First Snow
by SapphireBee
Summary: Bumblebee and the other autobots had never experinced snow, until after a heavy snowstorm they find themselves in the middle of a winter wonderland. Just how much mischeif can they can into? Unfortunately it's up to Sam to teach them the ways of winter.
1. First Snowfall

First Snow 

By Steph

The season had quickly passed in the city of Tranquillity, spring soon gave way to summer which had quickly changed to autumn. The autobot's were surprised at how fast the seasons inflicted their changes on the landscape as the tree's surrounding the city were shedding their very last leaves preparing for the encroaching hibernation that was winter.

The air was chilly as the wind whipped through the bare branches of the trees surrounding the autobot base, the sun was beginning to set just below the horizon. Sam looked up from his place on Bumblebee's lap, the two had earlier come to the autobot's temporary base which was close to Sam's home for a visit and for Bumblebee to his misfortune to have his routine medical check by Ratchet. The two were in the designated human area of the base in one of the many huge easily capable of holding several mech's at a time.

The base was located in an array of old warehouse buildings, in just a few weeks, the autobots with the help of the goverment would be moving over to their new perment base located in the West of Virgina, but until then, this would have to do.

The yellow scout had settled himself on the floor with his charge, Sam sat upon his lap, the yellow mech noticed his charge's stare, he turned his optics, gazing in the same direction, faintly wondering what Sam was looking at.

"Sam?" the yellow autobot inquired

"Is everything ok?" Bumblebee's voice conveyed slight concern.

Sam seemed to snap out of his trance and he quickly shook his head as if to return to normality and looked up at his guardian with a smile,

"Everything's fine, Bee, I was just wondering what time it was" Sam huffed,

Bumblebee dipped his metal head to one side, not entirely satisfied with his charge's excuse, but he didn't push him further.

"The time is 9:45 pm local" the yellow scout clarified, hoping to sooth some of the tension he felt coming off his human.

Sam quickly jumped up, losing his perch on the mech's lap, the teen tumbled backwards and landed with a thud onto the metal floor, he let out a groan

"Shit, shit, my parents are going to kill me" Sam cursed under his breath.

Bumblebee, shifted slightly and put a hand up behind the young human to steady him as he quickly got to his feet again.

"Sam are you all right?" the scout's voice was strained after seeing Sam take a nasty fall, all at once his guardianship instincts kicked in.

"Do you need checking by Ratchet?" rambled the young autobot as he ran a scan of Sam's body, his fingers poking into the teen's back, making sure he was not injured.

"I'm fine Bee" huffed the young human as he swatted one of the giant fingers checking over his body,

"I just fell, quit being such a mother hen" he sighed there was a slight twinge of annoyance to the teenager's voice.

Bumblebee moved his hand back away from Sam, he clicked in disapproval, his optics still monitoring the young human to ensure he didn't stumble. Sam quickly turned to face Bumblebee, worry clearly plastered across his face.

"I have to go home, if I'm late again my parents are going to ground me I know it"

Bumblebee's optics lit up slightly with amusement, the yellow scout found it quite entertaining when Judy grabbed Sam by the ear and hauled him into the house. Quickly he proceeded to transform into his alt mode, the down side of Sam being grounded was that they could not go sneaking off to explore. Sam raced forward and leapt into the waiting driver's seat, out of the window Sam shouted to the others.

"Bye Optimus, Ratchet , Hide" his voice muffled slightly by the glass,

Optimus let out a throaty laugh from his chest as he watched the yellow camero speed out of the base,

"Those two, they never slow down" mused the semi truck,

Ratchet looked on after the now yellow blob in the distance, sighing

"No they don't, the amount of dents I've had to bang out of that autobot," the medic's voice was gruff but there was no doubting the affection in his tone.

The roads were relatively deserted as Bumblebee drove in the direction of Sam's house, his engine quietly rumbling in the background, the two sat in a relative comforting silence, whilst Bumblebee proceeded to drive, Sam stared out of the window, ominous objects whizzed by as the yellow camero drove down the main road. Bumblebee turned his sensors inwards and once again found his charge staring blankly into space.

Gently, the autobot's voice filled the cab,

"Sam are you sure your ok?" the scout questioned, his tone more worried then curious.

Sam let out a breath of air, it steamed up the inside of the window slightly as it condensed in the now chilly night air.

"I'm fine Bee, honestly" Sam sighed becoming slightly annoyed at his guardian's persistence, Bumblebee fell silent once more, yet the scout could not help but keep wondering why his charge was constantly staring outside. The yellow scout knew that with Sam, persistence often paid off he pressed his queries further.

"Why do you constantly keep looking outside?" Bumblebee asked, there was genuine curiosity in the mech's tone,

"It's like your waiting for something to happen" the yellow mech pointed out.

Sam slumped back against the leather seat, he knew he was fighting a losing battle,

"I'm just curious, lately we've been having lots of cold weather, it finally looks like it's finally going to snow" the excitement was very evident in the young human's tone, Sam eagerly pressed his face up against the glass and once more proceeded to stare out of the window at the darkened sky.

Bumblebee was genuinely confused, of all the time the scout had spent on earth, he had never come across the earth phenomena, now that Bumblebee thought, none of the autobot's had. Sure the yellow mech knew exactly was it was, having the entire internet at his disposal, yet he could not come to understand his charge's seemingly over excitement about it.

"What is the big excitement over this snow?" the scout inquired, Sam did a double take, the young teen let out an amused laugh,

"You'll see" the young human said simply as the yellow camero pulled into the Witwicky driveway, without another word Sam exited the cab, he patted the hood in farewell

"Night Bee" he said softly,

"Goodnight Sam" the autobot responded

With that Sam walked over to the door and disappeared into the house, Bumblebee shook slightly on his tyres as he powered down his systems and entered recharge…

The light of morning poured in through the open window in rays of bright white light, Sam groggily opened his eyes, he swung his feet over the side of his bed and gently padded over to his bedroom window. The young human absently rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his sleeve before finally opening his eyes, Sam gasped, as far as the eye could see the landscape was covered in a blanket of brilliant white. The rays of sunlight glittered upon the snow on the ground making it sparkle like stars in the night sky, Sam wasted no time, he scrambled for his coat and fumbled to quickly get his shoes on.

At a remarkable speed Sam raced down the stairs and tore open the door, the teen huffed as the freezing, cold morning air gripped his body, he wrapped his arms around himself rubbing them up and down his skin trying to create some kind of warmth. Sam looked around, the snow had gottern everywhere, even on top of Bumblebee, Sam crunched over to his guardian, the thick white powder coming up to his knees, Sam flinched slightly as he felt some of the snow melt against his skin, he shivered slightly. Shakily Sam rested a cool hand on top of Bumblebee's roof and gave it a gentle tap,

"Morning Bee" he said his voice shaking slightly as his teeth chattered together,

Bumblebee felt a familiar touch upon his roof, the yellow mech powered up his systems, they seem to take a little while longer to warm up to their optimum operating efficacy, his optical sensors finally came online, there was white, nothing else, were his optics malfunctioning? The yellow mech ran a quick diagnostic, everything was in there normal parameters, yet why was he only seeing white?

"Good morning Sam" the autobot replied, Sam half expected his guardian to open the door, yet the yellow camero did not move an inch, Sam dipped his head to one side in a confused squint,

"Err.. everything all right Bee?" Sam's voice conveyed slight concern it was very unlike Bumblebee to sit stock still, normally the yellow mech would be itching to go.

"Everything's fine Sam, My optical sensors appear to be malfunctioning, I cannot see anything accept, this band of white" the autobot's voice huffed with irritation,

Sam could not help himself, he began to laugh, and soon lost control lover his body, the young teen gripped the side of his guardian for support as he nearly lost his footing in the snow.

Bumblebee let out a gust of air from his vents with slight irritation,

"I fail to see the humour in this, Sam" he said in a mono tone. Sam stood still for a moment trying to catch his breath,

"You can't see Bee, cause your covered in snow" the young human's tone was amused, Bumblebee, shook on his wheels dislodging some of the white powder, the yellow scout's optical sensors screen cleared, giving the yellow mech a broad view of the now winter wonderland around them.

Never before had Bumblebee witnessed anything like this, Cybertron never had weather and this was the first time the scout had ever experienced it, his scans told him of the molecular structure and density of the substance, but it was through Sam, the yellow autobot really saw the beauty in the fluffy white powder all around them.

"So this is snow" mused the yellow mech, an amazed awe was clearly evident in the scout's voice.

Sam looked around him, his hazel eyes intently looking at the landscape, he nodded to the mech beside him.

"It sure is, wait have you never seen snow before" the teenagers voice was quite shocked though he tried not to show it.

Bumblebee scanned the neighbourhood to ensure no one was around, he quickly transformed into his bipedal robot form, masses of snow fell from the yellow mech as the metal twisted and rotated before finally settling down. Bumblebee gazed down at his charge, his blue optics wide with wonder,

"No, we never had weather back on Cybertron, this is one of my first winters this far north since arriving on this planet" stated the scout,

Sam nodded in understanding, he gazed up at his guardian a smile very evident on his face,

"Well, your first snow," Sam said quietly, Bumblebee gazed down at his charge, and nodded,

"Its beautiful" mused the yellow mech, Sam nodded, and before Bumblebee could ask, the young human had made his way over to the lawn and to the yellow mech's surprise had begun fondling around with the frozen water. Bumblebee watched in fascination as his charge, rolled up the white powder into what looked like a ball, curiously Bumblebee bent down to inspect the object in the young human's hands.

Before the yellow scout could react, Sam had thrown his arm back and hurdled the snowball at Bumblebee's head, the snowball flew in the air, before it hit it's target with a satisfying thud, snow slide down the yellow paint. Sam let out an amused laugh, Bumblebee stood still with a puzzled expression on his face. Sam stopped in mid way through his laugher, the young human sigh,

"That was a snowball, you throw them at each other, for fun" patience rung out from the young human's words.

Bumblebee nodded his head in understanding, his optics lit up suddenly with an idea, then an evil grin etched across the mech's face plating, Sam gazed up at his guardian, his eyes widened when he saw the expression on the yellow mech's face. Quickly the young human took a few steps back almost losing his footing in the process,

"Oh no… your not.." before Sam could finish, the yellow mech had scooped up a huge pile of snow and had moulded into one of the biggest snow balls Sam had ever seen, it made Sam's snow ball look like a pitiful gum drop next to the monster in his guardian's hands. Bumblebee looked down at Sam, then the yellow mech tossed the huge mass of snow into the air. Sam looked up at the oncoming mass of white, he let out a uncharacterized squeak and before he could take three steps, the pile of snow landed on top of the teen completely burring the helpless human.

Bumblebee let out an amused chuckle as he watched his charge dislodge his head from the pile of white now encased around his body, the teen ruffled his hair as bits of white powder fell from on top of his head. Sam stared up at Bumblebee with a serious expression, the yellow scout turned his gaze towards Sam noticing his intense stare, at once Bumblebee's face became serious, believing he had crossed an invisible line. Sam then begun to laugh hysterically, more snow fell from around the human as his laughter shook his body. Bumblebee let out an amused chuckle before wordlessly offering a hand to his charge, Sam looked up and tried to move,

"Err, Bee could you help me out? I think I'm stuck" the teen's expression was amused,

The yellow scout laughed out loud, "Of course Sam, I apologise I believe I went a little overboard with the amount of snow" the yellow mech let out an amused chuckle.

Sam huffed good naturedly, "A little huh" Bumblebee just smiled, as he wiped the snow from around his charge's body with ease, he then processed to scoop the human up, Sam held onto to the yellow metal thumb for support as the scout gently set the human on top of his shoulder, Sam shivered slightly at the change in height, it was slightly cooler on his guardian's shoulder. Bumblebee turned his head towards Sam,

"Come on you, lets get you dried off and warm, I doubt Ratchet would be very happy with me if you got sick from been out in the cold" the yellow mech's voice was affectionate and soft,

Sam let out a laugh, "All right, I'm going" he huffed now used to Bumblebee being over protective. Bumblebee chuckled in his chest at his human's tone, he brought a hand up and cupped the boy's back as he walked on over to the window leaving huge footprints embedded in the snow. He scooped up the human from his shoulder and gingerly placed him into his bedroom,.

"Thanks Bee" Sam sighed, Bumblebee nodded,

"I'll wait for you out front" a smile clearly etched across the mech's face, he then proceeded to fold into his yellow camero, as he waited for his charge out on the drive way.

Sam smiled, and begun to dig out his winter gear from in his wardrobe, quickly the young teenager emerged from the house and ran to the waiting car. The first snow of the year, and ironically the first ever for some, yet Sam knew deep inside it would defiantly not be their last, like the changes of the seasons the snow would bring some new experiences for mech and human alike. This one would however would forever be, their first snow together.


	2. Snowball Madness

**Thank you to all the people who reviewed, I love some of the suggestions! So here is another chapter of winter madness with the autobots,. Have any requests leave a review **

**Thanks!**

**This takes place after 'Snowstorm'**

**Enjoy :D**

Snowball Madness

By Steph

Winter, a very different season especially for the most recent residents of earth, summer had soon ebbed away into autumn and before long the leaves were beginning to fall from the trees, littering the ground with a rabid display of golden, orange colours. Night fall had quickly descended upon the human settlement of Tranquillity, the wind whooshed through the bare branches of the trees making the branches creek as they rubbed against each other. Chilly air whipped through the grass, and before long white clouds began to swirl in the evening sky all the tell tales signs of the calm before a storm.

Sam gazed out of his window, the hinges wide open allowing the now cold air to blow into the teen's room, Sam crossed his arms over his chest and rubbed his body, trying to create some kind of warmth. Slightly to the left, stood Bumblebee in his bipedal robot form. A small thin trail of white still littered the ground from the weeks previous snow storm, the mech's yellow body was slightly crouched allowing his artic blue optics to peer curiously into the room. Sam turned slightly to gaze at his guardian, a wide smile clearly alit on his face.

"Looks like there's going to be no school tomorrow, Bee" Sam's body just about quivered with excitement looking more like a child in a sweet store, one of his hands came away from his chest and pointed outside.

Bumblebee's optics followed his charge's hand, scanning the landscape with his superior cybertroian senses.

"I'm not quite sure, I comprehend what you mean, Sam, nothing on my scans indicates any dysfunction of your body, you are perfectly healthy, why will you not be attending school tomorrow?" The yellow mech's head dipped to one side in a confused squint.

Sam's body shook with laughter and he shook his head, his hazel eyes looking around outside once more.

"Look at the weather, it's bloody freezing, I bet my secret stash of busties beauty's that tomorrow the ground is going to covered in a least a foot of snow."

Bumblebee's optics lit up with amusement, remembering the last time he and Sam had encountered the fluffy white powder the human inhabitants called snow, lets just say Sam knew better then to throw snow at a fifteen foot robot.

"I'll hold you to that, Sam, perhaps if your wrong about tomorrow you could as you humans say, 'spill the beans' to your parents about those video images, that you seem to enjoy so much."

Sam visibly paled until he noticed the small tremors of suppressed laughter rocking through the mech's yellow door wings, he began to chuckle slightly before shaking his head.

"Sometimes, Bee, your really evil you know that?"

Bumblebee's radio gargled for a second as it often did when he needed a snappy comeback.

"_But you love me really" _a woman's voice echoed through the speakers, Bumblebee's optics drooped slightly staring into Sam eyes his head tilted to one side, a small twittering noise festered from his chest. Sam clenched his teeth together trying to resist the utterly cute look the mech was pinning him with, but to no avail.

"Ok! Fine! Your not evil," he blurted. Bumblebee's head came slightly nearer Sam's window.

"Andd…" the yellow scout prompted

Sam looked down towards the ground in slight embarrassment, feeling himself go red.

"and.. I lov…" he mumbled quietly, shuffling his feet.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." the teasing in the scout's voice was laced within the words causing Sam to looked up at his guardian feeling his whole face go extremely hot.

"I love you" he mumbled again slightly louder, knowing full well Bumblebee's advanced audio sensors could hear him.

"What?, I can't hear you" the mech sang.

Sam eyes flashed towards Bumblebee's face and before he could stop himself…

Fine!! I love you! I love you! I love you! Happy?" he shouted loudly before clamping a hand over his mouth. He fell silent for a moment hoping his loud outburst had not alerted his parents, when nothing happened he heard a quiet rumble from Bumblebee.

"Very"

Bumblebee chirped happily before bobbing his head up and down wildly, Sam shook his head and let out an amused laugh, he turned his head towards his bed before sighing deeply and turning his gaze back to Bumblebee.

"I guess I should be getting to bed, see you in the morning, Bee"

Bumblebee nodded before reaching in with one finger and ruffling Sam's hair gently. Sam laughed and playfully swatted at the looming digit. Bumblebee chucked and withdrew his hand, his optics blinking before dipping his head.

"Rest well, Sam" With that Bumblebee turned away and folded into his camero form settling onto the drive way, the head lights flickered once, Sam waved and turned towards his bed, by the time his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light…

:Next Morning:

Sunlight filtered in through the glass window of Sam's room, painting its golden colours upon the teen's pillow, through closed eyes Sam felt the heat of the sunlight upon his skin, along with the early morning, winter chorus of the robins dragging him away from his slumber. The encroaching awareness slowly crept through his body, Sam let out a groan, though the sound was muffled with the pillow stuffed up under his face, he groggily opened his eyes to the cheerful light of morning. In an almost painful effort, Sam swung his feet over the side of his bed and padded over to the window, he felt the seeping coldness upon his bare feet as he walked across the wooden floor. With one sleeve, Sam tenaciously rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched.

Glancing out of the window Sam almost laughed to himself, all across the landscape was a fluff of pure white. The snow layering the ground like a cotton blanket, glancing over to the driveway, Sam spotted a glimpse of yellow paint under a tone of white snow, the early sunlight practically making the ground shimmer like diamonds that could make even the stars envious of its shine. Sam all but ran down the stairs and after finding his discarded sneakers, he shot out of the front door. Sam gasped as the chilly air all but cooled his body, a gentle cool breeze caresses the human's skin, rippling through his clothing. Sam watched in surprising fascination, his eyes catching sight of a few specs of snow being lifted by the breeze, the flakes danced around his head in a spiraling motion before coming to rest upon the ground once more. Shaking his head to dislodge some of the flakes of white powder from his hair Sam trudged forward the snow littering the ground coming up to his knees, he headed towards the drive way where Bumblebee remained covered in a heap of white. Only the autobot's mirrors were visible under the huge mass of snow, the rest of his sleek yellow armor all but covered. Sam shivered as he felt some of the snow melt upon his already cool skin, shakily the teen rest one cold hand upon the wing mirror of his guardian, he gave it a gentle tap.

"Hey Bee?" he questioned softly.

The yellow scout remained motionless for a moment before the mirrors of the camero folded in on themselves, Sam scrambled back in slight shock as Bumblebee's metal began to fold and twist incomprehensible ways. As he transformed huge piles of snow fell towards the ground landing with a huge thud, Sam yelped as one particularly large one fell upon his head making the human fall to the ground as the snow completely buried him. Before long a bieptal, mechanical robot stood in the driveway, arctic blue optics peering around the winery landscape, a small muffled noise echoed from the ground catching Bumblebee's attention. With one giant hand he swept up the huge mass of white, uncovering his now thoroughly wet charge.

"I'm sorry Sam, I didn't see you." Bumblebee chuckled slightly at the ludicrous expression Sam was giving him.

"Says the robot with super vision, I was stood right next to you!" Sam let out an exuberated sigh and fell back into Bumblebee's palm in defeat. The yellow mech rumbled with laughter as he paced over to Sam's open window, leaving a trail of curious marks indented within the snow behind him.

"In my defense, I was covered with snow"

Sam sighed and sat up as Bumblebee set him down in his room, he turned towards the window and laughed in realization.

"I told you! Over a foot of it, I can get something right!" Bumblebee just shook his yellow head as Sam began to skip around his room in a childish sort of way.

"You may want to save some of that energy, Ironhide has just contacted me, he wishes to participate with you in one of your human winter games."

Sam stopped his dancing charade and turned to give Bumblebee a questioningly look, his voice dropped slightly in suspicion.

"What game?"

Bumblebee laughed and cocked his head to one side.

"I believe he says it was called a 'snowball fight."

Sam's eyes widened and over a dozen emotions flashed across his face, Bumblebee had difficulty keeping up, first it was surprised, then shock, then absolute terror.

"Are you both crazy! Snowball fight! With Ironhide!, one handful of snow and you he just about buries me!, what are am I supposed to do? Throw little gum drops at him and run for my life? jeez Bee, save me a little of my dignity, I think I'd rather face down Megatron at gun point then Ironhide with a snowball."

Bumblebee watched with amusement, over his time on earth the mech had become an intolerable tease, something Sam endured on a regular basis. The yellow mech just waited until Sam finished his rant, he gently reached in and stroked one finger down Sam's back in a comforting way.

"Sam, you know I would never leave you to the mercy of Ironhide, what kind of guardian would that make me?"

Sam laughed at the seriousness of Bumblebee's voice, he patted the yellow metal finger beside him.

"I know Bee."

Bumblebee gazed down at Sam, there was a curious look upon his faceplating.

"Let's say we beat Ironhide at his own game?"

Sam nodded in agreement, the teen turned his attention towards Bumblebee, his expression very eager. Bumblebee let a smile stretch across is metal face.

"Listen here what we'll do…"

* * *

Ironhide surveyed the grounds of the temporary base, everywhere was just a mass of white the snow looming in all directions venting a sea of white across the landscape. The surrounding huge coniferous trees were deathly still, huge piles of white snow littering their branches. Something in the near distance caught Ironhide's optics, grumbling to himself, the black autobot trudged forward.

"Stupid, fargging perception" he muttered to himself as he felt some of the frozen snow seep through some of the exposed wiring in the thick black struts that supported his weight, the feeling was uncomfortable, the snow began to melt inside Ironhide's exposed metal framework causing the cold water to run through his already chilled metal exoskeleton . Ironhide came to a sudden stop, the black mech looked up, something large and white was flying towards him at quite a high speed.

"What in the name of cybertron…"

All of a sudden Ironhide fell back as a huge snowball bounced off his head with a satisfying thud. The black mech toppled over falling backwards into the snow the ground gave an almighty shake, shockwaves echoed outwards, shaking the surrounding forest. Ironhide's optics blinked and fixated on one of the trees he was caught under.

"Oh slag"

Before he could move a piston a huge seething mountain of white fluffy snow fell from the branches haplessly covering the helpless autobot. Ironhide sat up and immediately powered up his cannons to melt away the frozen water, he abruptly stood shaking himself free of any more snow. The black mech's optics flashed dangerously, scanning around the landscape to try and sought out the one responsible.

From a short distance away Bumblebee's entire frame shook with laughter at the sight of his mentor upon the ground, upon his shoulder Sam sat trying to remain upright as he too roared with fits of giggles. The teen placed one hand against the side of his guardian and took in a deep breath to try and right himself.

"That has made my day, great idea Bee. That snowball, the aim was perfect, did you see Ironhide's face!?..." He suddenly stopped speaking when he caught the very scared expression of his guardian, Bumblebee's optics were wide and his entire metal frame abruptly stilled beneath Sam.

Sam let out a nervous chuckle at the sight of Bumblebee's fearful gaze.

"What is it Bee, laughed yourself out?" Bumblebee did not answer his charge, he just lifted one metal hand pointing in the direction of where Ironhide now stood just in front of the pair. A low rumbling voice boomed, making Sam's hairs at the back of his neck stand up on end.

"I'll tell you who will be laughing, boy, and I guarantee it will not be you"

Sam squeaked as the cannons on Ironhide's forearms powered up glowing a bright orange color. The teen turned his gaze to stare at the horrified expression of his guardian.

"Run like crazy?" he asked, surprised at how high his voice sounded.

"Run like crazy" agreed Bee as Ironhide began to charge after the pair throwing snow up behind him, cannons and all.


	3. Guardian Angel

Thank you for all the reviews, This bunny popped in my head during my biology lesson, it was a rather cold day and I couldn't help but turn my thoughts to winter.

Enjoy

Guardian Angel

By Steph

"I'm neever.. listennning… to youuu againn Bee, eveerr, no mattter what else that crrrazy proccessor of yourss coomes upp withh".

Bumblebee just made a show of rolling his optics before shaking his yellow head and waving one hand dismissively in a sort of 'whatever' motion.

The teen's teeth chattered in his mouth. He stubbornly sat opposite his guardian hunched over in the rec room of the autobot base upon one of the human sized sofas trying in a desperate ditch to get warm. Sam began chafing his hands tenaciously on his arms, undoubtedly hoping friction would do the job, it was no use, the seeping coolness of the melted snow upon the human's skin made sure of that. Bumblebee silently watched with concern, he sat beside the sofa next to the young human, he, unlike Sam was now mostly dry from the winter punishment of undoubtedly the entire century, Ironhide had chased the pair down mercilessly before pelting them with giant snowballs and in the process getting the pair thoroughly drenched and wet and in Sam's case very cold.

Bumblebee let out a mechanical sigh as he watched his charge trying to get warm, the teen did not have a change of clothes and the autobot base was not the warmest of places. Sam would get sick if he continued to shiver this way.

"Sam?" the autobot inquired.

Sam looked up before another shiver rattled through his frame, the teen hunched further into the fabrics of the sofa before replying.

"Whhhaat iss itt Bee?" he chattered.

Bumblebee leaned forward, his blue optics peering down at the smaller being in concern. The yellow scout offered a hand to his charge settling it just in front of the human, a clear invitation. Sam looked up questioningly.

"Your cold" the scout stated, he moved his hand closer to Sam, the yellow metal alloy warmed by Bumblebee's nanotech system.

Sam scooted back slightly away from the irresistible warmth emanating from the looming yellow palm, his body protesting, demanding he go and curl up into the relaxing warmth the hand offered, Sam's pride however was getting the better of him.

"I'm fine" Sam huffed.

Bumblebee did not take the bait, his optics flashed a slight warning before moving his palm closer towards his charge once more.

"I beg to differ" the yellow mech said undeterred.

"You wooorrry to much Bee." Sam shivered once more causing Bumblebee to shake his head in slight disbelief.

"You are unbelievable stubborn, please Sam, your going to get sick." the mech's voice grew soft towards the end. Sam just shook his head and hunched his neck inwards. Bumblebee sighed, Sam was clearly not going to do this willingly. So without warning, Bumblebee puckered the young human up from the sofa who gave out a weak cry of protest and cradled him in both hands, curling them around his charge's body, before sitting back and bringing Sam close to his chest. Bumblebee could feel Sam's struggles begin to weaken as he warmed the alloy of his palms before readjusting Sam's position closer to where his spark lay under the metal chest plating, the place that gave off the most warmth. Sam's intense shivering fits began to slowly lessen as the irresistible warmth began to creep through his body, Bumblebee noticed and let a smug smile spread across his face plating.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

Sam nodded and turned his head up to look at Bumblebee's optics.

"Yeah, thanks Bee" he added shyly before curling up again next to Bumblebee's yellow chest, the yellow mech noticed the tenseness in Sam's body, no doubt a side effect of the excess shivering fits.

The yellow scout put one finger upon the base of Sam's neck and began to stroke there, leaving a trail of warmth in it's wake. Sam sighed appreciatively as Bumblebee worked out a particularly sore knot in the back of his neck, more fingers joined the first trailing down Sam's back easing the tired, achy muscles. Sam's body began to relax under the gentle touch and by the time Bumblebee's fingers began to circle, working deep into the muscles of his shoulders he was limper then a rag doll and before he could stop himself Sam felt his eyes begin to droop. The yellow scout continued the massage until he heard a small grumbling noise etched from the human's mouth, he mentally smiled towards his charge, Sam was deep in slumber.

"Sleep well Sam, you have a long way to travel tommrow."

Bumblebee began to power down his own systems well in the need for a recharge himself. Bumblebee adjusted Sam's body before powering down his optics and joining Sam in the world of dreams…

The move to the autobot's new base had been a success and Sam with the permission of his parents had taken several flights to spend the winter holidays with the bots until Christmas about a week later. It had been a rather uneventful trip, Bumblebee had met him at the airport and drove him to where the new base was located. So that night after two days of constant travelling, Sam instead of making his way to his own room had let Bumblebee carry him to the rec room? He was so tired he didn't really care. Sam just let himself fall asleep safely tucked up against Bumblebee's warm metal chest.

* * *

Sunlight filtered through one of the small windows of the autobot base, a signal that early morning had finally arrived. Bird songs chorused in the cool morning air alerting the inhabitants of earth it was the start of a brand new day. Droplets of ice hung around the branches of the surrounding trees, the light danced off the ice crystals cascading a ray of rainbow colours upon the snow filled ground, just one of the many beautiful winter scenes laying in plain sight in the city of Tranquillity.

Bumblebee's sensors registered the small beams of light shining upon his yellow armour. The yellow mech's systems began to warm up coming online one by one, blue optics flashed to life peering around the room. Bumblebee made a series of clicks inside his metal framing working out some of the tightened jointing in his yellow armour. With a satisfied hum of contentment Bumblebee settled back against the wall before peering down at his charge who was curled up against the mech's chest plating. The yellow mech smiled at the cute sight, carefully he ran one finger down the side of Sam's body, Sam felt something gentle touch his side calling him away from the blissfulness of slumber, Sam gave out a huge yawn before stretching and finally opening his eyes to meet the blue optics of Bumblebee. The teen squinted slightly as the bright light of morning hit him, he carefully sat up to asses his surroundings, realizing he was still at the autobot base.

"Hey Bee" he whispered quietly, his voice not really capable of much more at the moment.

"Good morning Sam, I trust you slept all right?" Sam groaned slightly as he recognised the teasing note in the mech's tone.

"Yeah, I did thanks, your really uh warm." Sam felt his cheeks flush red with embarrassment, Bumblebee chuckled in his chest making Sam's body bob up and down with the motion. Bumblebee turned his optics to gaze at Sam giving the human a questioning look, Sam noticed and began to feel self conscience under the gentle gaze.

"What?" he asked.

Bumblebee just shook his head before glancing around the room and returning his gaze to Sam.

"Nothing" he dodged before continuing.

"Any plans for today?"

Sam fell silent for a moment, thinking to himself before a wide grin stretched across the human's face. Bumblebee watched with interest, he knew that look, it usually meant ether trouble or fun. The yellow mech was hoping for the second option.

"Bee, think you can convince Optimus to let you out of patrol duty today?"

Bumblebee's inner workings whirred for a moment contemplating his answer.

"To be fair Sam, I'm not so sure, I have been off duty for a while now. I believe Optimus maybe sending someone else to guard you until I return."

Sam's expression fell, though Bumblebee had being with him non stop for the past few weeks, it was fair he returned to his other duties for the mech was an autobot and not just Sam's guardian

"Why?" he asked

Sam turned his head to look at the floor, avoiding the gaze of Bumblebee.

"Doesn't matter.."

"Sam" Bumblebee said softly.

Sam turned his gaze towards the floor,

"I just thought you know, while it lasts, the snow, we could I don't know, have some fun"

Bumblebee noticed the saddened look upon his charge's face, he sighed venting out air from his coolant system, he hesitated not liking to see Sam upset.

"I suppose.. I could try and clear it with Optimus to let me have a little more time off… I think it would not be fair to leave you with Ironhide today, not after what transpired yesterday."

Sam's face filled with terror, he nodded quickly. He defiantly did not want to be at the other end of the weapon specialist's temper today, no doubt yesterdays prank was still fresh in the mech's mind. There was no telling what Ironhide might do to the poor human in return, the very thought made Sam shiver unpleasantly and that had nothing to do with the chilly air, Bumblebee noticed and tightened his hold around Sam, the yellow metal warming up around the teen once more. Sam soon began to relax as the familiar warmth ran through his body. Bumblebee was silent, Sam oblivious to the conversation being held on the Com line.

"_Bumblebee to prime…" _

_There was static for a few second s before a deep voice answered._

"_Prime here" _

"_Optimus, sir, I am requesting permission to be relieved of duties for a further week." Bumblebee hesitated knowing what he was asking, there was an audible pause._

"_Reason behind request?" _

"_I feel I wish to learn more of human culture regarding their winter customs, whilst there is snow I thought now would be the best time, sir"_

_Optimus's deep laugh rumbled through the com line, _

"_If you wish to spend more time with your charge then you only have to ask youngling." Optimus formal tone fell away as it often did with Bumblebee._

_Bumblebee laughed in relief, his spark swelling with gratitude at Optimus's understanding._

"_Thank you sir," he happily chirped._

"_No need Bumblebee, go enjoy yourself, I believe it would be unfair to Sam to leave him to the mercy of Ironhide" _

"_No disagreement there sir"_

"_Stay out of mischief, Prime out" the line went dead and Bumblebee shut off his com link._

Sam stared up at his guardian anxiously waiting, he noticed Bumblebee's gaze turn to meet his own.

"Optimus has cleared it I have the rest of the week off, what did you have in mind?"

Sam let a huge smile spread across his face, his eyes lit up with excitement. Bumblebee noticed and let out an amused chuckle watching Sam antics, gently he placed Sam back on the floor and then processed to stand at full height, his artic blue optics gazed down at his charge with a questioningly look clearly alit in their dabs of blue light.

"Come on, lets go outside I want to show you something." Sam gestured with one hand towards the door, he then began to run across the room to the entrance of the autobot base that lead to the outside world. Bumblebee shook his metal to head to himself before closely following his charge outside.

Opening the door Sam shot out in front of the yellow mech, Bumblebee watched carefully before returning his optics to stare around the landscape, it was a clear blur of white. Snow piles littering everywhere from the branches of the surrounding trees to the fencing off to the left. It was a world of white, looking more like something out of a Christmas calendar. The rays of sunlight gleamed upon the ground making the snow practically shimmer in the golden colours. The snow was at least a foot deeper then yesterday, it must have snowed again overnight, Bumblebee laughed to himself, this planet was full of surprises.

Bumblebee turned his optics towards where Sam now stood, the snow coming almost up to the human's waist, it was a funny sight watching Sam trying to hurdle himself forward through the mass of white. Curiously Bumblebee approached his charge his optics widening in surprise when Sam flopped backwards into the fluffy white powder and begun to move his arms and legs in a sweeping motion. The yellow mech grew slightly concerned at his charge's behaviour, he paced over towards where Sam now lay flopped on his back in the frozen water and crouched giving Sam a ludicrous look.

Sam gazed up at his guardian from his position on his back, the funny angle gave Bee's expression a humorous look and before he could stop himself, the young human burst out into laughter.

"Sam, what in the name of Cybertron are you doing?"

Sam chuckled to himself before getting back up upon his feet and brushing off the snow from his head, he pointed towards the impression now clearly visible in the snow just behind him. Bumblebee followed his charge's hand before his optics come to rest upon the shape in the white powder, the yellow mech tilted his head to one side with unexpected fascination.

"It's called a snow angel, we do them for fun, old custom, my parents taught me when I was younger." the young man shrugged his shoulders.

"Guess it's something you never grow out of."

Bumblebee stared at the form now noticing the shape of it's wings where Sam's arms had swept the snow aside, he blinked before turning his gaze back towards Sam.

"It's beautiful, you humans have such strange but wonderful customs." Bumblebee hummed, an idea then filled the yellow scout.

Quite abruptly Bumblebee stood and took several large steps back away from Sam. Causing the human to throw him a questioningly look, Bumblebee just smiled before like Sam he flopped backwards in the snow prompting the ground to shake under the autobot's great weight, Sam laughed as the shockwaves caused him to fall backwards in the snow. The young human then watched his guardian sweep the snow aside with his metal limbs before proceeding to stand, before Sam. Bumblebee chuckled at his charge's expression. The imprint left by Bumblebee was huge, there was not one but two pairs of wings fanning out almost six feet giving the shape a more angelic like appearance, no doubt a result of the mech's doorwings. Sam's eyes widened appreciatively, he walked over to get a closer look, behind Bumblebee watched silently with a smile clearly alit on his metal face.

"Now that's an angel" he breathed staring down at the shape before turning around to gaze at Bee, the scout's door wings were caught the sunlight behind them casting a silhouette by the early morning sun, the shadow looking like that of a guardian angel. Sam gasped in realization he then turned his gaze to look at Bumblebee.

The yellow scout dipped his head to one side, his optics peering down at the smaller being by his feet.

"What is it?" he questioned softly. Sam just shook his head before walking forward to pat the yellow metal, Bumblebee scooped up Sam in one hand and set the boy upon his shoulder. Sam leant his head on Bumblebee's, closing his eyes.

"I'm glad you're my guardian Bee." he said quietly, Bumblebee just hummed happily before beginning to trudged back towards the base, the motion causing Sam to feel drowsy once more and slowly the human's conscience began to drift towards that of sleep, Bumblebee heard a small mutter from his charge, he turned his head to find Sam almost asleep.

"My guardian angel" Sam murmured before falling silent. Bumblebee mentally smiled towards his charge before heading inside of the base and settling down in the rec room next to the wall, with Sam once more curled up in his hands leant up against his chest. He contently watched Sam sleep stroking one finger down Sam's back. Sam relaxed and turned his head to one side, Bumblebee smiled. A silent protector, a guardian angel.

**Hope the fluff isn't killing you : ) Till next time..**


	4. Beware of Ice

_I'm sorry for the delay! I have been very occupied with another one of my stories, In the Wake Of Tomorrow. I feel as though I have being neglecting this, so without further ado here is the next chapter._

**First Snow**

Beware Of Ice 

By Steph

Sam shook his head to himself, he was currently laid on his back pinned under a huge yellow palm lent up against a warm metal chest gazing up at the ceiling of the autobot base. Sam had managed to shift his head sideways, his eyes tilting left trying to find a way out of his current dilemma, but try as he might his body was stuck fast. Bumblebee had been up all hours of the night patrolling the streets near where Sam lived, the yellow mech felt it was only fair he pulled his weight and did his time of duties just like the others. This had left poor Bumblebee on the brink of exhaustion having little time to recharge as during the day he returned to his usual duty of Sam's guardian. So as the sun began to rise early that morning Bumblebee had returned from patrol and groggily paced over to where Sam was sleeping in the rec room, puckered his young charge from the couch he was resting on and all but collapsed against the wall with Sam tucked up against his chest.

Sam having woken a little later very early that morning was now trying in vein to free himself, without waking his guardian and this was proving to be easier said then done, even in recharge Bumblebee had a tight grip and was tenaciously holding Sam fast. Sam breathed deeply but froze as he felt Bumblebee abruptly shift beneath him, the yellow mech moved his hand slightly, readjusting his hand over Sam's body. Sam let out a breath of relief, quickly he glanced at Bumblebee's optics, they were still dim indicating he was still recharging, carefully Sam crept forward until his legs were swung over Bumblebee's wrist. Bumblebee shifted once more causing Sam to flinch, he stilled hearing nothing but his own breath and the occasional humming of the yellow autobot beneath him. Sam waited until the yellow scout settled down before eyeing the ground beneath him, the teen peered carefully over the edge before gulping quietly perhaps for the first time Sam realized just how tall Bee was, trusting his own judgement Sam quickly stole a glance back at his guardian before shuffling forward and dropping to the ground. Unfortunately he misjudged the distance and landed hard.. On his ass.

"Ooof" he gasped, the small noise though quiet caused Bumblebee's body to jerk upwards, blue optics flashed to life in alarm before one of Bumblebee's metal palms was replaced by a giant twin plasma cannon. Sam gasped at the humming weapon pointing straight at him, he could feel the heat of the cannon's glow on his skin, Sam's heart began to thud wildly and before he could stop himself…

"Bee!" Sam all but squeaked. Quickly Sam brought his arms up and covered his face dreading what more could possibly go wrong.

Slowly realisation began to dawn on Bumblebee's metal face and the humming of the giant cannons powered down and faded away, Sam hesitantly lowered his arms to find Bumblebee now several feet away looking in the opposite direction, a lump welled up in the teenager's throat. Shakily Sam rose to his feet and walked over to where Bumblebee now sat, his footsteps measured with worry as he approached the yellow form.

"Bee?" he said softly, pausing once more as Bumblebee shifted slightly, turning his metal head inwards. Sam sighed and paced forward feeling Bee flinch as he touched his yellow armour.

"Come on Bee, look at me, please."

Slowly Bumblebee lifted his head up and shamefully turned his gaze down to his charge, Sam smiled slightly trying to put his guardian at ease, Bumblebee's blue optics dimmed slightly causing Sam to frown, the young teenager gently patted the metal beside him.

"Bee, you ok?" he questioned softly. Bumblebee snapped back slightly and lifted one of his yellow hands towards Sam, Sam's body jumped at the sudden motion, he unconsciously flinched at the sight of Bumblebee's metal hand shifting towards him, Bumblebee froze instantly recognising the fearful reaction his blue optics darkened in shame and carefully Bumblebee lowered his palm back down to the ground beside him. Sam swallowed guilty realizing he had mistook Bumblebee's actions.

"Your scared." Bumblebee ushered quietly, his optics glancing at Sam's face before trailing down to the human's chest as though monitoring the now thundering heartbeat.

"I'm fine" Bumblebee just shook his metal head before glancing back to Sam's face.

Sam watched in slight irritation before motioned for Bumblebee to lift him up, Bumblebee hesitantly complied with his charge's request, depositing the boy on his left shoulder. Sam felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end and his whole body tingle with an unfamiliar sensation like being wrapped in bubble wrap, Bumblebee's head tilted slightly in the direction of Sam.

"Your body says otherwise, your heart rate has nearly doubled and your systems are flooded with adrenalin."

Sam just shook his head in disagreement. "It's not your fault Bee, I startled you, it's the kind of reaction I'd expect, Ratchet explained it to me, your combat system is often the first thing to come online as you may need to defend yourself. Don't beat yourself up about it."

Bumblebee's blue optics shone brightly at his charge's knowledge before the yellow autobot let out the equivalent of a human sigh, a gesture Bumblebee had adopted from Sam.

"I'm sorry Sam" Bumblebee whispered quietly, "I'm just so pitting tired." Bumblebee grumbled to himself before settling back down against the wall, pistons and hydraulics let out a satisfied hiss, Sam's face frowned, Bumblebee looked more then tired, the autobot was practically exhausted.

"Bee." Sam admonished. "You need some rest, your doing too much, patrols and then spending time with me as well. You may be an awesome fifteen foot kick ass robot but you can't keep this up, you need some sleep."

Bumblebee rolled his optics at Sam and gently lifted a hand behind his charge, placing him upon the ground. Sam watched as Bumblebee proceeded to stand his full height, gears and pistons hissed under the strain, Sam flinched Bumblebee looked ready to keel over.

"I promised I would spend the rest of this week with you and that is exactly what I'm going to do, however although Optimus permitted me the time off, I feel I should attend to my regular duties as well. Since we are both awake, I suggest we pay a visit to the human area of the base, it looks like you could do with a shower and change of clothes."

Before Sam could utter a word, Bumblebee had turned around and began to walk towards the door which lead to the outside world, Sam proceeded to follow before stopping dead in realization, it had been particularly cold the previous night which meant the already snowed filled ground would have hardened to form… ice. Sam yelped at the sight of Bumblebee ignorantly heading towards the entrance, he huffed heavily chasing after Bumblebee but it was already too late, the yellow autobot had just neared the door and had begun to open it.

"Bee! Wait a minute, watch out for the…" Sam started only to stop in mid sentence when an almighty crash echoed throughout the base.

"Ice."

Sam ran towards the door and stood dumbstruck in the entrance, there lay Bee on the cold, wet ground, sprawled out on his back covered in a layer of white snow.

"Bee! Are you ok?" Sam ran forward towards the now disorientated autobot and tapped the side of Bumblebee's metal head. "Bumblebee?" Sam said softly before giving the metal another gentle tap. Not a sound uttered from the motionless yellow mech, Sam began to worry at the lack of response, pivoting on the spot whilst frantically trying to decide what to do.

"Shit, shit shit! Bee come on answer me!" Sam furiously tapped the side of Bumblebee's head, his worry now boarding panic as his guardian lay motionless in the snow. Sam's eyes darted back towards the base, he only hoped Ratchet was still around and had not left for patrol duty just yet, the young teenager turned to leave, he took one last look at Bumblebee's motionless form with a grim expression.

"Bee I swear to God you better be all right you hunk of junk!" With that Sam ran back inside the base with quick footsteps, Sam skidded around the corner of the main corridor which lead to the medical bay, before he could reach the door he was scooped up by a large metal hand.

"Whoa! What's with the big hurry Sam?" A deep voice chuckled, Sam looked up coming face to face with the brilliant blue optics of Sideswipe. Sam began to scrambled towards the edge of the metal palm whilst speaking in a high pitch voice.

"No time Sideswipe, have you seen Ratchet around?" Sideswipe's metal face frowned before he motioned his head towards the monitoring room just off to the left of where the pair was stood.

"He's in the monitoring room, why?" Sam just shook his head in frustration as he continued to try and make his way back to the ground, he currently was not in the state of mind to be dealing with the over zealous bot.

"It's Bee, I think he's hurt, I need Ratchet." Sideswipe's optics widened for a second before he quickly brought Sam up to closer to his face prompting a startled yelp from the young human.

"What happened?" Sideswipe's tone dropped in suspicion as he eyed the young teenager carefully, Sam however ignored the question, his eyes snapped up towards the silver autobot. With one hand Sam motioned towards the floor,

"No time to explain just put me down, I need to go get Ratchet." Sideswipe was momentarily shocked at the human's quipped tone but complied nevertheless gently placing Sam back on the floor, pacing a safe distance behind the human as they both made their way towards the monitoring room.

………………………………

* * *

Ratchet grumbled to himself as he stared blankly at the screen controls of Teletran one, he was a medic and of all the primus forsaken jobs Optimus could have him do, it just had to be monitor duty, where nothing if ever happened. Optimus had argued that everyone should pull their weight and do their fair share of duties including this one. Ratchet silently smirked to himself, it was Ironhide's turn later on today, that was certainly going to go down well with the trigger happy mech. The thought quickly escaped the medics mind as Sam followed by Sideswipe came bursting through the door.

"Ratchet, thank God I've finally found you." Sam paused trying to catch his breath, Ratchet turned to look before glancing at Sideswipe who merely shrugged. Ratchet sighed as he patiently waited for the young human to catch his breath.

"It's Bee, he's sort of unconscious and won't respond, I think he slipped on some ice when he went outside, I tried to warn him but…" Sam trailed off at the dumbfounded look Ratchet was giving him.

"What?" the human asked, Ratchet's bright blue optics blinked once before returning his gaze back towards Sam.

"Bumblebee cannot have merely slipped Sam, he is a Cybertroianwith automated sensors, we do not lose our balance as you humans do from time to time." Ratchet said as if trying to explain something to a three year old. Sam just shook his head and sigh. Bee was so going to slag him for this…

"He's not being recharging enough Ratch, he's been acting a bit weird this past day or so." Sam watched as Ratchet's blue optics narrowed and the neon medic squared his shoulders, Sam grimaced Ratchet was going into full blown mother mode.

"That little glitch, he will burn out his processor doing that, what in the name of the Allspark is he thinking! No wonder he's falling all over the place." Ratchet's optics narrowed towards the door before stomping through the base in the direction of where Bumblebee still lay in the snow, with Sam quickly following at a safe distance behind the now distort mech.

It tooka lot less time to get back to Bumblebee probably because of the furious rage Ratchet was in, quite wisely, Sam watched a safe distance away in the doorway as Ratchet crouched to examine his guardian on the ground. Ratchet's gears whirred as a blue bland of light swept across Bumblebee's body, Ratchet fumbled with a small button at the back of Bumblebee's neck and all of a sudden Bumblebee's blue optics flashed to life as his body gave a great jerk Ratchet steadied the disorientated yellow mech before easing him up into a sitting position. Bumblebee's optics flickered around before focusing on Ratchet then back to Sam.

"Slag it, what hit me?" the bot's vocalizer crackled with static, prompting a small chuckled from Sam who walked forward to join the pair of mechs out in the snow filled landscape.

"The ice is what his you buddy" Sam laughed patting Bumblebee's yellow armour just above his head, Bumblebee's optics widened as he stared at the skid marks embedded in the ground, he blinked before turning his gaze back to Ratchet. The medic growled before addressing the yellow scout, he vented air out of his coolant system to try and control his irritation.

"What in the name of primus were you thinking Bumblebee! You know better then to put off your recharge cycles, does Optimus know about this?" Bumblebee flinched at the reprimand before shaking his yellow head.

"I'm sorry Ratchet, I'm just trying to pull my weight as the humans say, do my fair share of duties." Ratchet sigh before pointing one metal finger accusingly towards Bumblebee's chest. Bumblebee was often too loyal for his own good.

"As your medic I am ordering you to take the rest of the month off, you are relieved of all duties and when I say duties I mean all."

Bumblebee's optics widened before glancing at Sam who also looked like he wanted to protest. Bumblebee shook his head and started to stand with a little help from Ratchet before rising to his full height.

"What about Sam? He can't be left alone Ratchet." Bumblebee said softly stealing a glance at his charge. Ratchet went silent considering for moment before nodding his head and pointing towards Sam.

"Very well, you can remain as Sam's guardian as long as you do not do anything strenuous and you go get a proper recharge"… Ratchet paused before glancing down at Sam who was absently rubbing his eyes swaying a little on the spot in obvious exhaustion, it had been an eventful, early morning, Sam too had not gotten a lot of sleep. "The both of you" Ratchet added before nodding his head in the direction of Sam at Bumblebee, who nodded in understanding. With that Ratchet turned and left heading back into the main hanger of the base, leaving both Sam and Bumblebee outside.

Bumblebee silently approached his sleepy charge before offering a hand to Sam and scooping up the now tired human and tucking him against his warmed chest.

"Come on, you heard Ratchet, let's get some more sleep." Bumblebee laughed as Sam mumbled a weak cry of protest as Bumblebee quietly trudged back inside the rec room before settling back down in the pair's usual spot.

"Mm not tired.." Sam mumbled, Bumblebee shook his head before leaning back against the wall getting comfortable. He readjusted Sam's body before placing his other hand over his charge's body to keep out the chilly wintry air.

"Thank you for what you did today Sam." Bumblebee murmured quietly. Sam moved slightly before opening one way and smiling.

"Your welcome Bee." Sam muttered. Bumblebee chuckled before getting comfortable once more. "Just sleep Sam." he whispered softly

Sam shook his head slightly, "Ok" he murmured before falling silent once more, Bumblebee mentally smiled towards his charge as Sam's body went limp and his breathing eased out, indicating he was finally asleep. Bumblebee once more readjusted Sam's body closer to his spark before dimming his own optics as he joined his human into a content, blissful slumber.

_Hope I'm not killing anyone yet. Till next time._

_**Wb x**_


	5. Mother Bee

_Again, sorry for the big delay, I will try and update this story every other week now as we lead up to the festive season. As well as a Christmas special! _

_Thank you so much for all the reviews, you guys rule! _

_On with the next chapter._

_:_**Thoughts:**

**First Snow**

Mother Bee

By Steph 

Sam stood quietly amongst the winery landscape, the over night sky twinkled brightly with clusters of shining stars laminating themselves against a big silvery moon, dabs of moonlight cascaded upon the snow and ice, sparkling in a sea of endless diamond. The surrounding trees painted groups of semi lunar silhouetted shadows across the whiteness of the ground, the night air was calm a side from the gentle breaths of Jack Frost caressing and rustling through the bare branches of the woods surrounding the base. Sam breathed in deeply, shivering slightly as he felt the cold air tickle in the back of his throat, still shuddering, Sam snuggled down into the comfy depths of his winter coat in an effort to keep the chilly winter wind at bay. Gazing up at the bright sky, Sam smiled lightly to himself, just happy to be getting some time alone, Bumblebee was still inside recharging, oblivious to Sam's night time venture outside. A loud crunching noise suddenly interrupted the young teen from his musing, turning quickly Sam's eyes flickered upwards as he came face to face with the huge majestic metal figure of Optimus Prime. Waves of shadows rolled off the autobot leader as he walked, leaving a curious trails of footprints embedded in the fluffy white powder that lay on the hard ground.

"Sam" The huge autobot murmured softly nodding his head in the direction of the young human in acknowledgement. Optimus's blue optics brightly lit up in the darkness staring down at the smaller being by his feet. Sam shifted his gaze upwards, meeting the bot's intense stare.

"What are you doing out here this time of the night?" Sam stiffened at the light reprimand but quickly relaxed as he felt a deep rumbling laugh fissure out of the leaders chest, Sam shook his head and smiled up at the blue mech, chuckling quietly to himself.

"Couldn't sleep." Sam said softly as he tilted his head back up to the night sky. "Guess I just needed some time to think, besides, it's really peaceful out here tonight."

Optimus's optics flickered upwards staring at the night time stars, "It is, I often like to come out here myself and think, I find the quietness very comforting."

Sam merely hummed in agreement as a comforting silence passed between the pair aside from the occasional sneeze and cough from Sam. Nether spoke, until Optimus's deep voice broke the seemingly long silence.

"Are you all right Sam? Your core body temperature is rather high."

Sam smiled and waved one hand dismissively. "I'm fine, it's just a cold, we humans get them all the time."

Optimus regarded the human carefully, they had a habit of hiding their own wellbeing, the blue mech nodded trusting Sam's judgement, though he would be sure to keep a close eye on the boy. Sighing Sam let out a yawn and stretched, working out some of the knotted kinks in his shoulders.

"I guess I should be getting back, Bee will start to get worried." Sam grimaced, the last thing he needed was his guardian finding him out here at the crack of dawn without a good reason and much worse, seeing him coughing. Optimus smiled lightly and nodded his head, watching as the young human make his way back to the base entrance.

Sam walked with light footsteps back to Bumblebee's quarters, where his guardian was still recharging, he treaded carefully, very much of aware of Cybertroians and their advanced hearing. Peering around the corner of the huge door, Sam's eyes flickered left, much to his relief, Bumblebee was still recharging, his blue optics still dim. Carefully Sam made his way over to the metal berth where Bumblebee lay, still deep in recharge, carefully Sam began to climb up one of the thick metal struts that supported the structure, it took longer then Sam first anticipated as he out of breath by the time he reached the top. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam spotted Bumblebee's metal palm shifting lightly, reflexively Sam froze, not even daring to breath in case his body was against him and decided to let out a convenient sneeze, he let out a gust of air as Bumblebee stilled. Grabbing a piece of metal that was stuck out at an odd angle upon the mech's shoulder, Sam slowly hauled himself on top of Bumblebee's yellow chest before settling back down in his former position, he smiled lightly feeling one of Bumblebee's metal palms come to rest upon his body. The light thrums of Bumblebee's spark radiated outwards under the warm metal Sam was laid upon, it comforted Sam as he closed his eyes, feeling his cold, achy body go heavy. Sam was out before he had chance to think what day it was…

Bright rays of sunlight filtered through one of the lone windows of Bumblebee's room, the yellow mech's systems hum to life as his chronometer etched him slowly out of recharge, bright blue optics soon flashed to life, Bumblebee lay still for a moment waiting for his systems to fully reboot, smiling the yellow mech caught sight of Sam still sleeping upon his metal chest. Bumblebee tilted his head with slight worry, Sam's internal body registered as being rather higher then usual frowning, he gently trailed one metal digit down the side of Sam's body to try and coax the teen from his slumber. Sam mumbled something cohered feeling a smooth object stroke down the side of his body. Sucking in a deep breath Sam opened his eyes to the bright light of morning, he winced feeling the encroaching warning signs of a headache, as he tried to sit up, a wave of pain hit his body causing the teenager to groan before falling back down, luckily Bumblebee had moved his palm to catch his charge, mostly breaking his fall. Bumblebee's spark pulsed wildly, what on earth was wrong with him? Quickly the yellow mech set to work scanning his charge, not liking what he found, Sam was sick, _pit _the boy was on the brink of shut down. His temperature was well over what it should be, there seemed to be a virus of some sort flooding Sam's bloodstream. Bumblebee growled to himself, Sam normally did not tell Bee when he felt ill, something about his fear of Ratchet, Bumblebee sighed, if he so much as had to chain Sam to the med bay berth so he would rest, then by primus he would.

Sam clenched his teeth tightly, feeling his body begin to shiver uncontrollably, he felt _horrible. _Hell horrible could not even begin to cover it, he felt terrible. Sam coughed loudly, the sudden jerks making his already achy body bump against Bumblebee's metal palm. **Get a grip Sam **he thought to himself, carefully Sam slowly lifted himself back up into a sitting position, pausing as he let out another round of sneezes. Bumblebee wordlessly pushed his charge's body back down with his other palm as he surfed the Internet, cross referencing Sam's symptoms.

"Hey!" Sam crocked, "What was that for?" he suddenly stopped speaking as he met his guardian's intense gaze.

"Do not argue with me Sam, you are not leaving my sight until you have recovered." Bumblebee's voice held an under laying warning of authority to it, one that left no room for arguing, yet it didn't stop Sam from trying.

"I'm fine, I don't even feel…" He paused coughing loudly in his throat as if to confirm his lie before speaking once more. "Ill" Bumblebee shook his head and made a show of rolling his optics sarcastically.

"Sam." Bumblebee admonished, "Don't make me do it."

Sam shook his head sniffling a bit before making a move to stand, it was short lived as both of Bumblebee's metal palms sprang to life, coming together encasing him in a tight yellow box, trapping his arms and legs fast. Sam glared angrily up at the yellow mech, Bumblebee however did not take the bait.

"Very well since you insist on being so difficult, Sam Witwicky as your guardian I am ordering you to rest, and since this is matter of your welfare, I _do _have the authority to ensure you carry out my request, even if I have to pin you to that bed, you are _not_ leaving the med bay until I am satisfied you have recovered."

Sam squirmed under the firm but gentle hold, bashing his fists against the yellow metal in a futile effort to get free. Bumblebee however was undeterred and ignored Sam's cries of protests as he stood and began to walked down the familiar corridor towards the med bay.

"Bee! Put me down, I'm fine, really I just need some coffee and a pain killer and I'm good to go. We don't need bring Ratchet into this!" Sam fidgeting increased as they neared the med bay doors. Bumblebee just continued walking, pausing as he waited for the med bay doors to open, by the sounds coming from Sam, you'd think he was being taken to an execution. Shaking his head, Bumblebee let out a frustrated sigh.

"Sam, for pit sake calm down, Ratchet only wants to have a look at you, he's not going to dissect you."

"No." A deep voice interrupted, "but I will sedate you if you cannot get a hold of yourself."

Sam's body immediately stiffened at the sound of Ratchet's voice, Bumblebee dimmed one of his blue optics at Sam in an imitation of a wink. The young teen relaxed slightly, feeling Bumblebee give him a reassuring gentle squeeze before setting him on top the metal berth in the centre of the room. Sam's breathing hitched as Ratchet turned towards him.

**It's fine, it's just Ratchet, he's not going to cut me up. He's just going to scan me. Yeah, Scan. wait.. He's got a knife! What does he need that for! He is going to dissect me! Shit shit shit! Goodbye Mum, Dad, Mojo…**

Sam closed his eyes and waited for it, seconds passed and nothing happened, squinting Sam heard a small click like the flicking of a pen knife returning to it's casing, opening his eyes, Sam came face to face with the autobot medic.

"Boy, your heart rate is double what it should be, relax, I'm just going to scan you, it shouldn't take more then a minute." Ratchet rumbled softly, Sam nodded and look away towards Bee, who was stood a small distance away watching silently, he smiled reassuringly in Sam's direction.

Ratchet took a step back as a fan of blue light passed over Sam's body, Sam flinched as all the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end, he felt… tingly, he laughed quietly, it tickled…

Ratchet pulled up the data from the scans cross referencing it with the medical booklets he had access to online. With one hand Ratchet beckoned Bumblebee to come and join them, the yellow mech paced over and gently scooped up Sam with one hand, settling him against his chest, feeling the teen's body shiver, Bumblebee powered down his coolant system to half it's capacity and allowed his yellow armour to warm. Sam sighed, he felt like Mojo being looked over by the vet, he just couldn't bring himself to argue that he could just go to a human doctor, besides, it was so warm and comfy right here, It couldn't hurt if he just rest his eyes for a minute…

"Data from the scans show it to be a human influenza virus, nothing too serious, quite common at this time of the year. Make sure he goes to bed, keeps warm and drinks plenty of fluid." Ratchet paused, handing a very small vial to Bumblebee. "These will help with the coughing and help him sleep during the night. Young Sam should be well in a few days. Give him a doze now, no doubt he did not get much sleep with all that coughing."

Bumblebee nodded and smiled down at Sam, "Thank you Ratchet." Nudging Sam gently with one finger, Bumblebee motioned towards the neon autobot, Sam jumped shaking his head trying to clear his newly felt fatigue.

"Yeah, thanks Ratchet." He mumbled softly.

Ratchet nodded and motioned with one hand towards the door. "All right off with you now the pair of you, out of my med bay, I'm going to be busy if those slagging twins get up to no good again."

Bumblebee let out a chuckle and turned to leave, "Oh and Bumblebee?" Bumblebee paused and turned slightly, "Keep an eye on him."

Bumblebee winked and paced out of the med bay doors, pacing down the corridor back towards his own quarters. Halfway there, Bumblebee ran into Sideswipe, the silver mech came to a halt and looked down at Sam who was now dozing in Bumblebee's palm. His bright blue optics widened with concern.

"Hey, is the kid all right? I heard he had to visit the doc." Sideswipe spoke a little too loud as Sam shifted slightly in his sleep mumbling quietly . Bumblebee motioned with his other hand to cut across his throat in a 'be quiet' fashion.

"He's just fine." the yellow mech murmured, to quiet far too quiet for any human hearing to pick up on. "Just the flu virus, nothing he won't recover from."

Sideswipe nodded, "Want me to take him to your quarters? I was heading that way myself."

Bumblebee shook his metal head, "I'm not letting him out of my sight, thank you all the same but I would feel more comfortable taking him myself."

Sideswipe nodded "You really care for the kid, huh?" Bumblebee stared down at Sam for a moment before returning his gaze back up to Sideswipe, nodding.

"More then you know." Bee murmured. Sideswipe cocked his head to one side regarding the expression of the younger mech's.

"You know, I might get myself a human, you two seem to have such a rewarding relationship, of course I doubt Prime would let me become a guardian." The silver mech mused thoughtfully. "Hey Bee, do you mind if I spend some more time with Sam?, you know give you a break?"

Bumblebee's optics flashed brightly, almost immediately the more irrational side of him wanted to throttle Sideswipe for even suggesting the idea, Sam was his, jealously flared up in Bumblebee's circuits so much so it surprised him, it had always just been the two of them…

"I'm sorry Sideswipe, but Sam's ill at the moment perhaps we could discuss this at another time, Sam needs his medicine"

**I hope I don't have to discuss this preposterous idea again with you..**

Sideswipe nodded and moved to one side, but not without tenderly gazing down at Sam one last time, Bumblebee's spark glowed hotter in it's casing, Sideswipe was looking at Sam like _he _did,

**Slag it. ****He**** was the boy's guardian not that overgrown silver tin can.**

Bumblebee shook his head and nodded at Sideswipe continuing the short walk back to his quarters, what in the pit was wrong with him? Sideswipe was a fellow comrade, yet he viewed him as a… threat almost.

"Primus" Bumblebee muttered, he just hope Sam never learned of these almost possessive thoughts going through his guardian's head.

Coming to a stop, Bumblebee tapped in his access code, the code flashed green before the doors opened revealing his own room. Sighing Bumblebee placed Sam on top of his metal berth, carefully the yellow mech ran a finger down Sam's back.

"Sam, wake up." Bumblebee murmured softly, turning away to pick up Sam's backpack and setting down just in front of his human, he was careful, the bag was dwarfed by his giant palm.

"Whaat?" Sam crocked, slowly sitting up Sam rubbed his eyes sleepily, blearily looking around to asses his surroundings, they were back in Bee's quarters…

The yellow mech turned and handed Sam a small vial of tablets from a compartment in his shoulder armour, "Here, take one of these, Ratchet gave them to me to help with your cough."

Sam looked up and took the small vial in two hands, eying it suspiciously. "You sure Ratchet hasn't spiked them?" Sam teased lightly, laughing, Bumblebee chuckled but was abruptly cut off when Sam began to cough once more causing his entire body to convulse upwards, Bumblebee reached one hand across Sam's back, the entire palm covering the whole side of Sam's body, steadying him as his breathing returned to normal before removing his palm.

"Thanks Bee" Sam sighed gratefully as he popped one of the green pills into his mouth before washing it down with some water. It didn't take long for the sedative to kick in..

"Woah" Sam laughed, feeling his body turn into water like jelly, he suppressed a drug induced laugh as he nearly toppled backwards, only to be scooped up by a yellow palm.

"Yeah, woah to you too." Bumblebee chuckled lightly before moving Sam's medicine aside and laying down upon the metal berth. "Now get some sleep." Sam laughed again, this time a little more hysterically, his eyes growing heavy as Bumblebee settled him on top his warm yellow chest, warming up the metal surface.

"Bee…" Sam slurred, "love you."

Bumblebee rolled his optics, moving Sam a little closer to where his spark pulsed a few feet below, he hoped the gentle pulses would speed up Sam's battle with fighting sleep.

"I love you too, now go to sleep." Bumblebee whispered lightly, covering Sam's body with one metal palm.

"Mmm, kay." Sam slurred, Bumblebee watched as Sam's eyes finally closed and his breathing evened out, indicating he was finally asleep. Bumblebee smiled and powered down his own optics entering the blissful world of snow, angels and dreams….

**My longest chapter for this story, hope you have enjoyed, let me know what you think!**


	6. The Rules Of Guardianship

**:Thoughts:**

**First Snow**

The Rules Of Guardianship

By Steph

Outside the autobot base, the winter air blew rattling through the trees, kicking up patches of snow from off the ground as it moved, the fluffy powder danced and twirled in a light circle before settling back down upon the hard frozen ground, Jack Frost himself seemed alive tonight throwing up the world in a wondrous winery dance.

Through the open window of Bumblebee's quarters, a breeze of wintry air flowed through the gap causing a small pile of papers to drift almost silently to the floor. From his place upon Bumblebee's chest Sam mumbled lightly in his sleep, feeling the cool winery air chill his exposed arms, Sam shivered from underneath his guardian's palm, feeling his teeth begin to chatter together, despite the searing warmth fissuring out from Bumblebee's chest. Sighing Sam slowly opened his brown eyes, he blinked coherently, turning to gaze at the big digital clock resting upon the table beside the metal berth. The red luminous numbers stared blankly back at the Sam's face in the darkness. 2:34Am…. Great... Sam's eyes flickered around the room, trying to see through heavy mist of darkness, only the red dials of the alarm clock beside him provided some seeing light as Sam carefully sat up putting one hand up to his face and rubbing his eyes tiredly. He froze feeling Bumblebee shift beneath him, the yellow mech slowly moved his metal palm adjusting it over Sam's body. Sam fell back with a grunt against Bumblebee's chest as the weight of the mech's hand forced him back down.

"Damn" Sam cursed silently, pushing with both hands, Sam attempted to budge his guardian's huge palm off his body, but it was no use. He was stuck fast. Huffing heavily, Sam flopped back down upon the warm metal surface and closed his eyes, he may as well try and get back to sleep, it looked like he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. A small noise in the darkness suddenly caught Sam's attention, the young teenager's eyes snapped open, coming face to face with….

"Sideswipe?"

The silver mech's blue optics blinked in confirmation, glancing around Sam tipped his head to one side and rubbed his eyes tenaciously with the back of his sleeve as if trying to be sure he wasn't dreaming…

"What are you doing here? and how the hell did you even get in? I thought Bee locked the door." Sam questioned, Sideswipe said nothing but merely stepped closer, Sam's heart quickened in response as Sideswipe edged closer towards him in the dark, feeling uncomfortable, Sam shifted backwards into the comfort of Bumblebee's open metal palm, reflexively Sam felt Bumblebee's hand tightened around him in an almost unconscious response to his elevated worry.

**I'd better be careful**, **Bee will wake up if he knows Sideswipe is here. I'm not really helping, better keep calm, yeah, but what the hell does he want? It's not creepy at all to sneak into someone's room and watch them sleep, nope not creepy at all…**

"Sam" Sideswipe murmured lightly in the darkness. "Fancy getting out of here for a bit?" From the brightness of the mech's blue optics Sam could make out Sideswipe moving one of his silver palms towards him, a clear invitation. Glancing back towards Bee, Sam breathed in heavily, he did want to stretch his legs, but Bee would surely freak waking up to him gone. On the other hand…

"Sam?" Sideswipe prompted, sensing the teenager's hesitation. "Everything all right?"

Sam blinked, snapping out of his self induced trance , he nodded and smiled reassuringly at Sideswipe, moving towards the silver mech's open palm, pausing as he reached the end of Bumblebee's metal chest as if some invisible barrier was preventing him from moving any further. Sideswipe noticed and frowned., knowing what was coming next.

"What about Bee? He'll freak out big time if I'm not here when he wakes up." Sam mumbled quietly, once more glancing back at his sleeping guardian. Sideswipe cycled air through his vents, moving his palm underneath the teenager before using his other hand to lightly push Sam so that he landed into his outstretched hand.

**Always Bumblebee, Primus he has the kid scared to so much of as just move without his permission. He never lets the kid have any fun at all, coddles him way too much. Humans are tougher then we give them credit for. If I was Sam's guardian , they'd be none of this. **

"Let me deal with Bumblebee, besides, it's about time you had a little fun." Sideswipe smiled lightly before carefully standing up right and heading out of Bumblebee's quarters towards the main rec room of the base.

**Hmm**. Sideswipe thought silently to himself. **If I show Sam how fun I can be, he might choose me to be his guardian over that overprotective youngling. He doesn't even know how to handle a human charge, It's not all about protection, it's about having some fun now and again. I'll show the kid what he could have, if he were my charge… Now what was it Sam mentioned he liked to drink…**

Sam sat quietly in Sideswipe's metal palm, watching with slight interest as the silver mech flipped on the lights, Sam squinted as the bright light his him, he blinked quickly, feeling himself being lowered upon one of the huge sofas in the middle of the room in front of the T.V. Beside him, Sideswipe paced over towards the human mess area and before Sam could react, the silver mech was holding out a fresh steaming cup of hot chocolate. Sam smiled up gratefully as he took the cup in two hands before gulping down the delicious drink greedily, Sideswipe had made it just the way he liked it, raw sugar and everything. Sighing contently Sam placed the now empty cup next to him.

"Thanks Sides, been ages since I had a hot chocolate that good."

Sideswipe smiled down at the young human, moving to take a seat besides him.

"No problem Sam. You looked as though you really enjoyed that." Sideswipe mused thoughtfully. Sam chuckled and nodded up at the silver bot.

"Yeah, Bee hardly lets me have anything too unhealthy, says it won't do me any good in the long run." Sam trailed off at the end,

**Where did that come from?**

"Hmm" Sideswipe hummed, "It seems to me Bee is very strict with you."

Sam went quiet for a moment before nodding, now that he thought about it, Bee was rather strict, he only let him have snacks very occasionally, they often argued about issues such as homework and getting in on time, but that was Bumblebee's job, he was Sam's guardian as well as his best friend.

"He can be, but he does it because it's what's best for me." Sam said softly, the young teenager blinked and gripped some of the fabric tightly, feeling a bitter twinge of guilt rise up in his throat. Sideswipe noticed the human's reaction, he carefully reached down and ran one metal finger down Sam's back in an action that was suppose to be soothing, however it just seemed to deepen Sam's guilt, Bee comforted him like that…

"It's ok Sam. I don't mean anything by it, I am just merely pointing out that Bumblebee is sometimes in my opinion, a little too overprotective of you that's all, I won't speak of this again if it is upsetting you."

Sam nodded feeling a little empty, normally Bee would be here to reassure him everything was ok, perhaps give him a gentle hug, Sam sighed doing the next best thing, hugging his knees to his chest, besides it was freezing out here. Sam shivered slightly the base after all was still not the warmest place for a human, especially a sick human, Sam began to coughed lightly feeling the cool air tickle his throat. Ratchet's medicine was beginning to wear off. Sniffing, Sam groaned feeling another wave of sneezes threaten to take hold. Sideswipe gazed down at the human curiously, his blue optics scanning up and down Sam's body.

"Are you all right, Sam?"

Sam nodded but before he could speak another wave of sneezes began to rattle through the teenager's body, Sam wheezed as he fought to force enough air down his lungs. Sideswipe watched , panic beginning to rupture through the silver mech's systems. Thinking quickly, Sideswipe scooped up the spluttering human and quickly tucked Sam against his chest as he had seen Bumblebee do many times before. It seemed to work as Sam's coughing fit slowly began to stop, Sam heaved in huge breaths of air, trying to calm his breathing down, he gazed gratefully up at Sideswipe.

"Thanks… Sideswipe." Sam said breathlessly, he closed his eyes feeling the familiar yet different thrums of a spark embedded deep inside the metal he was leaned up against. Sideswipe's optics gazed down at Sam tenderly, carefully Sideswipe ran one finger down Sam's back, trying to keep the young human awake.

"Sam?" he questioned, shaking the teenager's body lightly. "Want to head outside, bet you I'll beat you in a snowball fight."

Sam's eyes opened, he laughed lightly feeling the same sense of light hearted friendship as he did when he was with Bee. He was coming to like Sideswipe very much.

"Of course you'll beat me, you're an eighteen foot robot, I'm just a puny five foot human, how fair are those odds?" Sam chuckled, Sideswipe twittered in his throat and shook his head, prodding Sam lightly in the ribs with one metal finger whilst he paced towards the door.

"Ah, but you forget my charge, size is not everything."

Sam tensed, his whole body froze at that one word, charge… Bumblebee frequently called him that, now that Sam thought about it, he had no idea why and for Sideswipe to imitate the same word. Something was up..

"What did you just call me?" Sam asked, trying to catch the silver mech's blue optics, Sideswipe avoided the human's gaze as he came to pause at the base entrance.

"I called you, my charge." Sideswipe repeated, his voice void of any emotion, Sam frowned, placing one hand upon the mech's silver chest and patting it gently. "Sides?" Sam prompted, his brown eyes gazing brightly into the silver mech's. Sideswipe merely shook his head. "You can tell me." Sam whispered softly. Sideswipe turned his huge metal head from the wintry landscape to the human sat in his palm, he tightened his grip reflexively feeling Sam shiver as he paced outside into the white wintry landscape They came to a stop just in front of the huge oak tree that sat in the centre of the white field.

"I just.. I have become rather fond of you Sam, you're a good kid, fun to spend time with, but whenever _Bumblebee_ is around, he refuses to let me near you." Sideswipe spat out the yellow mech's name like a cuss word, Sam eyes narrowed he opened his mouth to speak but Sideswipe cut him off.

"Before you tell me to frag off Sam, think, Bumblebee never lets you out of sight, he is possessive of you, he controls what you are and aren't allowed to do. Pit, it's like the bot owns you."

Sam once again opened his mouth to defend Bumblebee, but to his surprise nothing came out. Sideswipe watched nervously, waiting for Sam to say something if anything at all. His blue optics blinked as Sam sat up straight in his palm, glancing out at the oak tree in the middle of the field.

**Bee's my friend, my guardian. Yeah he can be a bit overprotective but that's just him. We have our good share of laughs, I wouldn't change it, Sideswipe has a point. Perhaps I should talk to him about it, sometime…**

"Sam." Sideswipe said softly, just above the gentle early morning breeze. "Tell me, what are you thinking, this suspense is killing me." He laughed nervously trying to break the tension between them. Sam shifted his shoulders before turning his head back to the silver mech beside him.

"In a way, your right but, I love Bee, Sides, he's my best friend. He's there for me when no one else is. Heck he was there when Michaela broke up with me, I wouldn't be the same person if it wasn't for him." Sam's voice drifted off silently, the cool breeze taking with it Sam's confession into the arms of Mother nature, to be carried in the wind through the trees and beyond. Sideswipe's optics brightened, carefully he tightened his grip around Sam's small body, feeling the human's heart slow at the gentle reassurance.

"I know Sam, but please consider what I'm about to ask you. I want to become your full time guardian. Bumblebee has done a fantastic job, but I think it's time someone else took over. Bumblebee is becoming too possessive of you, he's controlling most aspects of your life. The poor bot's just a youngling himself, I guarantee I won't be like that. With me, it'll be fun, I'll just be there whenever you need me, and only if you ask it"

**Bee doesn't deserve him, he treats him like Sam is his own possession. I wouldn't be like that.**

Sam sighed heavily, feeling his heart tear in two pieces, to his surprise, tears began to sting his eyes, he let them fall not even bothering to wipe them away. Sideswipe noticed and hummed soothingly in his chest.

"It's ok Sam, just think about it, all right?" Sam nodded silently feeling himself being carried, he shivered as the air temperature suddenly changed, glancing around Sam realized they were inside the rec room. A voice suddenly disturbed the still silence, Sam groaned, this was last voice in the world he wanted to hear right now.

"Sam!" Bumblebee breathed heavily in relief, quickly pacing forward to meet his charge, Sam grimaced as he glanced at the scout's expression, Bumblebee's optics flared angrily at the sight of who was carrying him. Sam unintentionally let out a cough, quickly clasping his hand over his mouth as Bumblebee's wing tips quivered in anger. Wordlessly Bumblebee held out his palm towards Sideswipe, when Sideswipe did not show any signs of handing Sam over, Bumblebee spoke.

"Give him to me, Sam needs his medicine. I don't even know why you have him. Sam should be with me, sleeping" Bumblebee growled, not trying to hide his annoyance as he made a move to grab Sam from the silver mech's hand, Sideswipe took a step back and sized Bumblebee up.

"Why don't you ask Sam yourself instead of assuming you know what's best for him, he came with me out of his own free will, something he seems to have very little of these days."

Bumblebee's optics narrowed at the Sideswipe's tone, he quickly moved forward and before nether Sam nor Sideswipe could react Bumblebee closed his fingers around Sam's body and tucked him against his chest.

"Sam is _my _charge and responsibility, I know what's best for him especially now with him being ill, now lay off Sideswipe." Bumblebee turned to leave but Sideswipe held out an arm, stopping the yellow mech in his tracks.

"Fragger, why don't you think, have you ever thought Sam doesn't _want _you as his guardian and can you blame him when you act like this."

Sam flinched at every hurtful word exchanged, he put his hands over his ears as the arguments continued..

"Slag off Sideswipe, if Sam felt that way, he would have told me himself." Sideswipe squared his shoulders threateningly,

"Ha! You would never even ask his opinion, you've got your exhaust shoved to o far up your own aft."

Sam clenched his fists in anger, "Just stop it! Both of you!" Both mech's glanced down at Sam with surprised expression, Bumblebee moved his other palm to stroke one finger down Sam's back to perhaps sooth him, he didn't need his charge to be getting worked up, not with his cough, but before Bumblebee could touch his human, Sam jerked away.

"No, put me down Bee, I need time to think." Sam said, his voice void of any emotion, he just motioned with one hand towards the floor, avoiding the mech's hurt expression.

Bumblebee flinched back as though Sam had hit him, his optics dimmed at Sam's outburst, "Sam… he tried only to be cut off.

"No, Bee, just please. Not now." Sam sighed as Sideswipe made a move towards him, he held up one hand stopping him in his tracks.

"Both of you, please I need to be alone right now." Bumblebee nodded, his spark clenched at the sight of Sam nearly in tears. Gently he set Sam down on the floor and watched with a heavy spark as Sam made his way to the human area of the base towards his own room, this would be the first night he would be sleeping at the base without Bee close by. Bumblebee glared up at Sideswipe once Sam was out of sight.

"Happy?" he murmured turning away and heading towards his own quarters, without Sam recharge was going to be far from possible.

* * *

Sam clenched the bed sheets tightly feeling another wave of tears threatening to fall, he thumped the pillow hard with his fist as he heatedly let his anger, frustration and sadness out.

**Sideswipe Bee, Bee Sideswipe. **

He shivered feeling the pit of his stomach squirm as the feelings of lowliness grew, he missed Bee's spark hums,, the very thing that could sooth all of his pain and fears away. Sam curled up, tightly hugging one of the pillows towards his body. Bumblebee or Sideswipe, just how was he suppose to chose?

_Poor Bee, I feel evil now, I know you guys enjoy the fluff now before you go off and get your pitch forks, just wait for the next chapter. Please let me know what you think and review! Thank youu __J_

_WB_


	7. Lean On Me

_Sorry of the delay! Ironically this week we have had this years first snowfall which of course has had me very distracted but has also helped fuel my imagination. Thank you so much for all the reviews I love all of the suggestions! I will be using perhaps a few of them, so thank you so much to all you wonderful reviewers! _

**:Thoughts:**

**First Snow**

Lean On Me

By Steph

Protection protocols flashed sporadically on and off in a wave of Cybertroian glyphs, lose characters sprung across the blank screen in a straight line before faltering and trailing off in error as each one was hit by a self induced firewall. Bumblebee groaned, tossing his metal body to the side of his berth trying to still his systems into a forced recharge.

**Sam, missing….**

Large strings of coding sprung up from the yellow mech's processor, flashing vivid images in a scrambled array of memories.

**I wish to stay with the boy… **

**Sam's face, his eyes, his… charge. Sam's eyes gazing up at him in innocent wonder after seeing him transform for the first time. So trusting… so… **_**unafraid.**_

**You are the person I care for most**

_FIRWALL INITITATED…_

_ERROR… _

_FIRWALL CODE DELETED._

_PROTOCOL ONLINE…_

**We've gotta stick together!**

**Sam with Sideswipe **_**laughing**_**…**

**Sam gazing up at him with that hurt expression. The sight of him walking away without even looking back.**

_DATA CORRUPTION._

_ERROR._

**Sam's gone…. **

**Not coming back…**

**Gone….**

**Sam!**

Blue optics flashed to life as Bumblebee's huge metal body jerked upwards with a start. Glancing around the room Bumblebee focused upon his chest for a moment only to find it empty, he sighed loudly, turning his gaze towards the door. Turning on his sensors to their maximum output, Bumblebee managed to faintly make out the signature of his charge, Sam's heartbeat was slow along with his breathing indicating he had finally succumbed to sleep.

"Primus" Bumblebee muttered to the still empty room. Being careful to not make a noise, Bumblebee silently made his way towards the rec room, creeping quietly with only the skill of a scout could managed, Bumblebee paced forward coming to a stop just outside out Sam's room. A faint band of light passed outwards from the mech's optics fanning the door in a sweeping motion, a deep voice startled Bumblebee in his mid scan, gears whirred in protest as his yellow metal body pivoted on the spot before turning only to come face to face with…

"Ironhide?" The weapon specials was stood silently in the blackness of the room, his black ebony metal blending in with the surrounding darkness, only the faint glow of the black mech's optics could be seen in low light giving Ironhide a deathly surreal look. Bumblebee froze, standing stock still, waiting for the almost inevitable reprimand but it never came… Only the uncomfortable stillness of the night air, the silence was deafening and just when Bumblebee was about to speak, Ironhide shifted his massive shoulders, squaring them in a formal stance.

"Bumblebee, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be recharging?" The mech's low voice softened at the sight of Bumblebee looking so _miserable, _old protocols festered in the black mech's processor for a moment, from a time when Bumblebee was nothing more then a sparkling. At the moment he looked just that. Bumblebee's blue optics dimmed, he lowered his head turning it back towards the door.

"Yes, I am sorry if I disturbed you." Bumblebee murmured quietly, he turned to leave but was stopped in his tracks as he felt a hand fall upon his metal shoulder.

"All right youngling, what's all this about?" Ironhide's usually gruff voice was soft. Turning to face his former guardian, Bumblebee let out a sigh pacing over to one of the mech sized sofas before lowering himself into a sitting position. Ironhide watched, shaking his head to himself turning his huge body to follow in the direction of the much smaller mech, Ironhide stopped just in front of where Bumblebee now sat hunched over. The yellow mech had his face in his palms, a gesture he had adopted from Sam Ironhide recognised as sadness. Ironhide's optics blinked, going soft at the pitiful sight, something must have happened, Bumblebee was normally so much more… well, happy.

"Bumblebee?" Ironhide questioned softly, gently the black mech leaned forward once more placing one hand upon the smaller mech's shoulder. Bumblebee visibly flinched at the gentle touch, frowning Ironhide removed his palm, Bumblebee finally lifted his head, his bright blue optics a blaze with emotions. Ironhide was taken aback.

"Bee?" he tried.

"I fragged up big time, Ironhide. It's all my fault." Bumblebee voice spluttered off in waves of static as the void of emotions threatened to overload his already weakened vocal processor. Ironhide paced forward and took a seat beside the distraught mech, placing a metal arm over Bumblebee's shoulders.

"Easy, easy Bee, what is it? What's happened?" Bumblebee shuddered leaning against Ironhide whilst attempting to rein in some self control, Ironhide noticed and gently crafted his metal palm against the side of Bumblebee's head, an action the mech used to find soothing as a sparkling, it seemed to work as Bumblebee cycled a deep gust of air through his vents sitting up, gazing at Ironhide with wide optics.

"It's Sam." Bumblebee said softly, turning his gaze towards his charge's room. "I was just trying to make sure he was all right, he was with Sideswipe when he started coughing but when I tried to get him to go to bed, he got mad with me, saying he just wanted to be left alone."

Ironhide narrowed his optics slightly as he stared down at Bumblebee. "Your not telling me everything." The black mech accused, having raised Bumblebee, Ironhide knew when the yellow mech was hiding something…

"I don't believe Sam would become angry just over that." The black mech pinned Bumblebee with a stern look. "What aren't you telling me Bee?" Bumblebee flinched back slightly under the intense gaze, his shoulders sagged like a toddler being caught trying to raid the cookie jar.

"I..I got jealous." Bumblebee admitted, shamefully staring down at the floor. "When Sam was with Sideswipe… it's always just being me and him, and then out of blue Sideswipe comes along asking me if he could spend more time with Sam. What was I suppose to think? Then I find Sideswipe with Sam in the middle of the night, I was worried out of my processor when I came out of recharge to find Sam was gone." Bumblebee trailed off, shaking his metal head in frustration.

Ironhide hummed in understanding, Bumblebee was fiercely protective of Sam, especially now with the boy being ill. He have to have a talk with Sideswipe about it… Ironhide gently patted Bumblebee's arm in a friendly gesture.

"It's all right youngling, I understand. You care deeply for Sam. Optimus made the right choice when he appointed you as Sam's guardian. You are dedicated to him in a way you are to no one else, I understand your frustration but you need to tune down the overprotective guardian role, I am sure Sam is feeling frustrated and no doubt even smothered, but right now he needs you to be his friend and yes when the time arises his guardian."

Bumblebee stared wide eyed at Ironhide, the black mech just shook with laughter at Bumblebee's dumbfounded expression he raised one hand, waving it wildly in the air before gesturing it towards himself.

" Hey I'm more then just a pair of cannons on legs you know. I raised you if you don't remember." Ironhide chuckled loudly, clasping a hand towards Bumblebee's chest in a banter like push. Bumblebee laughed rolling his optics in a sarcastic manner.

"How could I possibly forget." Bumblebee murmured softly, humming happily in remembrance, Ironhide's optics brightened, he laughed, a deep rumble within his ebony metal chest, Ironhide stood pacing towards the door, he turned pausing at the entrance which lead to his quarters.

"Even the best guardian needs a little help Bumblebee I didn't raise you alone, the others all helped in someway. Give Sideswipe a chance, the bot doesn't mean any harm. I'll admit he can be a slagger when he wants to be but he's just lonely."

Bumblebee optics narrowed slightly but he gave a grudging nod. "I'll try, but I'm not making any promises." Bumblebee restrained himself, trying to keep the growl out of his voice, Ironhide noticed, he sighed loudly.

"That's all I ask." Ironhide rumbled before disappearing from sight.

Bumblebee turned his gaze back towards Sam's room as he contemplated on what to do, somehow, he had to earn Sam's trust back….

* * *

Bird song began to fill the cool morning air with their melodious chorus as low bands of sunlight beated down upon the snow filled landscape, painting the world in a wondrous blanket of white. Small icicles clung to the bare branches of the trees, dancing out rainbow colours all around as the sun hit their icy surface.

A chilly, wintry breeze whipped through the base through one of the open windows, Sam shivered, feeling the cool air, pull him away from his slumber. He felt the encroaching awareness of the outside world pull him away from the world of sleep, Sam yawned as he stretched his body outwards, working out the knots in his achy muscles. He sighed to himself, ironically the bed wasn't as comfortable as his normal sleeping place, Sam shakily stood feeling his head spin at the sudden change in position the young teenager fumbled to get his clothes on, it took a while but Sam was finally ready. Sam paused at the door, feeling his own hand tighten upon the door knob, the metal surface dug uncomfortably into his skin. He had to face Bee sometime, it ether now or never. Taking a deep breath Sam stepped out of his room and walked through the human area of the base before finally reaching the main rec room. Upon entering, Sam came face to face with ebony black armour, tipping his head up, Sam found himself gazing into the bright blue optics of Ironhide.

"Oh. Hey… Hide, err good morning." Sam stuttered, this was the first time he had spoken to the black autobot since the snowball incident. To Sam's relief Ironhide just nodded his head in Sam's direction in acknowledgement, he bent down slightly offering a hand to the young teenager. Slightly taken aback, Sam quickly scrambled upon the sleek metal surface feeling himself being lifted. Before he could register what was happening Sam felt himself being lowered, he let out a huff as he was plopped into a much smaller metal palm, this mech's grip was much gentler as Sam was carefully tucked up against a familiar metal chest, he felt himself relax a yellow finger gently began to stroke down his back relaxing all of his achy muscles. Sam sighed appreciatively as the warm digit began to warm, lightly trailing down his back. After what seemed like hours the stroking suddenly stopped as a gentle voice filled Sam's ears.

"Hello Sam."

Sam turned his head upwards coming face to face with the caring gaze of his guardian.

"Hey Bee." Sam murmured softly, unsure of what else to say, Sam felt Bumblebee shift from underneath him, adjusting his position on the huge sofa, Bumblebee began to hum softly in his chest, he chirped loudly as he used to when he couldn't speak. Sam smiled in understanding recognising Bee's unspoken apology. Gently Sam patted the metal just above his head in reassurance.

"It's ok Bee." Bumblebee's optics brightened at his charge's acceptance, leaning back Bumblebee tucked Sam a little closer towards his chest, shaking his head to himself.

"I am sorry Sam about last night. I was being a fragger, I should trust your judgement, you perfectly know how to look after yourself, if you wanted to go with Sideswipe that was your choice and I should have just accepted that. Heck if you want me out of your life, with Sideswipe as your new guardian I will understand, especially after the way I have been acting.

Sam stared wide eyed up at Bee, he motioned up with one hand indicating he wished to be closer to Bee's face, Bumblebee obliged. Lifting his charge and settling him upon his shoulder.

"You're an idiot Bee, you know that?" Bumblebee tilted his head to the side glancing at Sam with bright optics, he was so sure Sam wanted him out of his life. He let out a questioning whir, carefully watching Sam's expression.

Sam shook his head, his mind was made up.

**Bee is my best friend, nothing is ever going to change that.**

"I don't want Sideswipe as my guardian, I want _you. _You're my best friend, yeah, you can be a complete pain in the ass with the homework, getting in on time, making sure I'm as healthy as possible, but you're my guardian and absolutely _nothing _is going to change that, and the sooner you get that into your processor the better."

Bumblebee stared dumbstruck at Sam for a second and before Sam could react, Bumblebee had puckered the young human from on top his shoulder and crushed him against his chest.

"Thank you Sam. I promise I will try to dim down 'my pain in the ass' traits as you say."

Sam laughed at the bluntness of Bumblebee's declaration, leaning forward, Sam lent his head against Bumblebee's chest feeling the familiar spark thrums through the many layers of metal. Bumblebee shifted as though uncomfortable in his own exo-skeleton, Sam noticed and turned his gaze back up at the yellow mech.

"What is it Bee?" he asked.

Bumblebee let out a sigh before speaking, he shifted his yellow shoulders, feeling the familiar twinge of jealously flare up in his spark chamber, he fought to suppress the emotion, he had to get a grip.

**Sideswipe means no harm.**

Bumblebee repeated to himself over and over, Sam patted the warm yellow metal as if to prompt Bumblebee into speaking.

"Bee?" he questioned softly. Bumblebee seemed to snap out of his self induced stupor, the yellow mech quickly blinked his optics before staring down at Sam.

"What about Sideswipe?"

Sam shook his head and smiled reassuringly at his Bumblebee. "You're the only guardian for me." he said softly, once more leaning back against Bumblebee's warm metal chest, feeling his body become heavy. Bumblebee smiled softly down at his charge, gently covering a hand over Sam's small body to keep him warm. Bumblebee chirped happily as Sam's eyes slowly began to close, and as he so often did, Bumblebee resorted to song, it echoed through the mech's speakers in a low flow of voices, a soothing melody as Sam succumbed to sleep.

_Sometimes in our lives we all have pain.  
We all have sorrow.  
But if we are wise.  
We know that there's always tomorrow_

_Lean on me, when you're not strong.  
And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on  
For it won't be long  
'Til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on_

_If there is a load you have to bear  
That you can't carry  
I'm right up the road I'll share your load__  
If you just call me  
I'll be there._

_Lean on me, when you're not strong  
And I'll be your friend. I'll help you carry on  
For it won't be long 'Til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on._

_So lean on me…_

_**Hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter. The song is ' Lean on me' by Bill Withers, I feel much better now, leave a review! **_

**WB**


	8. Snowbound: Part 1

_**Well here's my Christmas present to all of you, Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you for all the support this year, and may you all be blessed with love, health and success. **_

_On with the story!_

**:Thoughts:**

_:Broadcasts:_

_**:Comlink:**  
_

**First Snow**

Snowbound: Pt 1

By Steph

The bitterly cold days of the winter season wore on as usual. Mother nature's time of rest, leaving her children to fend for themselves until the coming of the long awaited spring. At the autobot base, things were no different, the surrounding field were a mass of white as the weeks upon weeks of snowstorms had left the landscape a wash with piles of snow. The beautiful white powder was not turning into a white deathly hazard, many people now struggling to travel in the treacherous icy conditions, and with Christmas just a week away, this was the last thing that Sam needed right now.

Outside the chilly wintry wind battered loudly against the glass panels of the upper window causing the entire frame to shake with the force, the sudden noise interrupted Sam from his work as he looked up from his school text book. His brown eyes flickered upwards staring up at the shaking window in an attempt to see through the drabs of frosted glass, he grimaced, the storm showed no signs of letting up, and with only a week until Christmas the odds of him being able to return home to his family looked more grim with every snowflake that fell.

The autobot base was located across the country to the far east in West Virginia, Sam with the permission of his parents had taken the opportunity to visit Bumblebee as he would be now for a while anyway, be stationed on base. The yellow mech could not be continuously be around Sam's home due to the big distance it would take for the bot to travel. Bumblebee didn't like it but he was too often called away to help deal with any remaining decepticon threats as well as the occasional routine combat training with Ironhide to be stationed permanently around Sam's home.

This winter had been no different then any other, but what no one had expected was the sheer amount of snow that had happened to fall this year, according to static's, this was the coldest winter on record since 1939. Sam would have to board several flights that would return him home in time for the festive holidays, but fate this year seemed destined to change that...

Grabbing the remote beside him, Sam turned on the huge T.V in front of him. Quickly surfing through the vast number of channels until he found what he was looking for. Sam frowned deeply as he listened to the numerous weather forecasts.

… _as more Snow is expected to fall over the north of the US in the coming days causing wide spread disruptions on roads and transport services in one of the most severe winters this country has seen in decades. Temperatures will continue to plummet to well below freezing as travellers attempt to return home for the Christmas holidays…_

"Bee" Sam spoke suddenly, not taking his eyes away from the screen, the yellow autobot looked up from his data sheet he was currently holding, giving Sam his full attention.

"What is it Sam?"The yellow bot asked quietly pacing over to where Sam was sat, a frown stretched across the mech's face plating as he took in the worried expression of his charge. Sam said nothing but merely gestured towards the T.V with one hand, Bumblebee turned his attention to the news report playing in the background. The mech's spark pulsed dead in realisation…

… _Power lines have being severely affected leaving many homes without electricity. All air traffic has being grounded after several planes crashed attempting to the land in the icy weather. Run ways are over run with ice and snow and with gritters and snow ploughs working overtime, it does not look to be getting any better anytime soon. Immediate advice from the government, do not attempt to travel unless absolutely necessary, stay indoors and try and wait out this storm…_

Sam cut the reporter's voice with a flick of the remote letting the small black object slip from his grasp, wordlessly Sam turned to gaze at Bumblebee, worry alit all over the teenager's face. Bumblebee merely offered a hand towards his charge gently scooping up Sam and settling him upon his lap, Sam immediately began pacing up and down the contours of Bumblebee's huge leg deep in thought. Bumblebee watched with a concerned expression, he could almost feel the anxiety and worry coming off Sam in roles, carefully Bumblebee placed one metal hand in front of Sam's body stopping the distraught teenager in his tracks.

"Sam, listen to me. You will get home" The scout promised, Sam looked up with a grim expression quickly shaking his head as he gestured towards the raging snowstorm outside.

"How Bee? You heard the news, everything has grinded to a halt, all the roads are blocked, there's no flights and I'm on the other side of the country with no means of getting there"

Bumblebee lowered his head slightly nearer towards Sam, the mech's deep blue optics boring deep into Sam's eyes. "You will be returning home even if I have to drive you there myself."

Sam's eyes went wide at his guardian's insane declaration, he opened his mouth to argue but before he could say a word, Bumblebee beat him to it.

"I know what your going to say Sam. I can handle the weather, the cold won't hurt me, now go pack if we are driving, we best get moving." Sam heaved in a huge sigh and gently patted the metal beside him.

"Thank you Bee, I owe you." he murmured softly before turning away as Bumblebee lowered him to the ground.

"Your welcome Sam, go on now. I need to gain permission from Optimus before we set off. It's going to be a long journey."

Bumblebee watch as his charge disappeared into his room, the yellow autobot sighed heavily, glancing outside at the raging snowstorm, despite the fact he was hardier then any car on earth, this was still going to be a dangerous journey. No doubt Optimus will not be happy about him even attempting to travel in this weather. Activating his scanners, Bumblebee traced the conditions outside, they were far worse then he first anticipated. Mounds upon mounds of snow layered the ground and with the freezing temperatures the snow look set to turn to ice. According to his scans of the air pressure, there was a band of low pressure surrounded by a circle air of high, which meant the wintry weather was not going to be moving any time soon.

Quite abruptly, there was a blip in the mech's systems as his scans reported some errors in the data just gathered.

"What in the name of Cybertron…"

Bumblebee's metal face frowned, something about the snow stopped him being able to properly scan the white substance properly, there were gaps in the environmental scan, this was bad news as Cybertroians relied on this to track where they were going whilst in their alt forms. Something about the molecular structure of the snowstorm seemed to be reflecting Bumblebee's own emissions… He was going to be travelling blind…

* * *

Bumblebee stared at the door in front of him, the mech's doorwings twitched slightly in apprehension, how was he going to explain to Optimus that he wished to drive through one of the biggest snow storms on record? Much less with Sam in tow, raising one yellow palm, Bumblebee gently tapped the door.

"Come in." A deep voice sounded from inside the room. Hesitating, Bumblebee slowly opened the door coming face to face with the bright blue optics Optimus Prime.

"Bumblebee. I have been expecting you." Bumblebee nodded stepping forward into the huge room, that Optimus used as his 'office'. The room was merely a place for the autobot leader to meet with government officials in privet, inside stood rows upon rows of shelves, each holding stacks of data pads. In the centre upon a mech sized desk sat the scorched remains of the Matrix of leadership, behind it, stood the hulking figure of Optimus. The blue mech gestured for Bumblebee to come closer, pointing to one of the chairs in the middle of the room.

"You wished to see me." Optimus prompted just as Bumblebee proceeded to sit, Optimus moved forward seating himself behind the desk just in front of Bumblebee.

"Yes sir, as you have probably heard the snowstorm has become much worse and according to the human's weather forecast, it does not show any signs of stopping."

Optimus nodded, slightly turning his head towards the small window to the left of the room, outside, the snow continued to fall heavily, even a Cybertroian's could probably not see past the raging torrent of snowflakes that were continuing to pound the ground.

"Yes." Optimus rumbled, turning his gaze back to the yellow mech in front of him. "I am very much aware, am I correct in saying all air traffic has been grounded?"

Bumblebee slowly nodded, "Yes, I am afraid so, you see it is why I wanted to see you sir, with the air traffic suspended, Sam has no means of returning home."

Bumblebee paused, watching Optimus's expression carefully, when the blue mech did not speak, Bumblebee continued cycling air through his vents to calm his systems.

"Optimus, sir I am asking for your permission to take Sam home myself, in one week the human holiday Christmas is to be celebrated, and Sam has expressed a strong desire to return home to his family to celebrate."

Optimus rumbled softly as he shifted his position. Gears whirring in deep thought at Bumblebee's request. "How do you intend to return Sam home?" Optimus inquired, Bumblebee flinched this was the part he had been dreading…

"I was going to drive Sam home myself." Bumblebee ushered quietly. Optimus's optics widened as an uncomfortable silence filled the room, after what felt like an eternity, Optimus's deep voice filled the room.

"You know that is out of the question Bumblebee, it is far to much of a risk."

Bumblebee grimaced, then the yellow mech did something he never thought he would… "But sir, How else is Sam suppose to return home? The snowstorm looks set to continue for at least another week."

Optimus cycled a gust of air through his vents, he knew just how much Sam meant to Bumblebee and there was nothing more the yellow mech hated then to see his charge upset.

"Please try and see my reasoning Bumblebee, all the roads are blocked and we have had reports of decepticon activity, it would be far too dangerous to allow you to take this journey alone. Not just your own safety but Sam's safety would also be compromised, you could be attacked or something could happen to you both with us having no means of reaching you. I'm sorry Bumblebee but my answer is no."

Bumblebee nodded his head before standing and pacing over to the door. "Yes sir, I understand, thank you for taking the time to see me."

Optimus nodded his huge head, and watched as Bumblebee disappeared from view, what the blue mech did not expect was what Bumblebee did next…

* * *

Sam glanced around his room a final time, making sure he had everything. Throwing his bag over his shoulder, Sam made his way over to the door. He hesitated on the sleek wooden surface turning to take a final look at his room; it was a sort of bittersweet resolve. It was time to leave, a heavy pit began to form in Sam's stomach. He couldn't actually explain it but he would actually missed his small room along with the absolute craziness of the base. The bots had sort of become his second family, if you felt sad Ironhide would cheer you up, with his gruff but fun nature. If you felt sick Ratchet would fix you up in a giff, if you wanted someone to play a prank with, Sideswipe was your bot. Of course there was Bee, someone to cuddle up to on a cold night, someone to listen to you when you need to just talk and someone just to have fun with whenever the opportunity arises. It was sad to have to leave them.

Taking a deep Sam swung his bag further over his shoulder before pushing open the door and making his way into the rec room, as soon as the young teenager entered he came face to face with his guardian. Bumblebee lifted his head up as he heard Sam enter the room, the yellow mech stood from the sofa he was sat upon and glanced down at his charge.

"Ready to go?" Bumblebee asked as Sam walked forward into the middle of the room. Sam glanced around and shook his head.

"Not yet." Sam murmured softly, he began making his way in the direction of Optimus's office; Bumblebee's spark pulsed widely as he realized the direction Sam was heading in, thinking on his feet, Bumblebee quickly placed a hand in front of his charge, stopping the young teenager in his tracks.

"Sam, where are you going?"Bumblebee asked lightly, Sam looked up at the mech's almost nervous expression, taking in the note of hysteria he detected in Bumblebee's voice.  
**  
What's with Bee? **

"I'm going to say goodbye to Optimus and the others." Sam clarified as he made a move to step around Bumblebee's large metal palm but he was once again stopped as Bumblebee proceeded to scoop Sam upwards, tucking the boy up to his metal chest. Sam yelped as he felt himself being lifted.

"No time" Bumblebee rumbled, pulling Sam closer towards his chest whilst tightening his grip around his charge's body, encasing him in a tightly padded metal box.

"Bee!" Sam all but shouted as the yellow mech initiated his transformation around the teenager, metal panels upon Bumblebee's chest split and began to rearrange themselves in a synchronous order, Sam felt his body shift upwards as cogs fit and slot into place taking on the shape of the familiar yellow camero. Flickering his eyes slightly to the left, Sam could faintly make out the wing view mirrors as they flicked outwards, a wave of a watery like substance granulated itself from the bottom of where the front window should be. Flowing upwards and solidifying to form a panel of clear see through glass, the steering wheel slotted into place and where a bipedal mechanical robot once stood, a sleek yellow camero now sat. Sam jostled himself as his boy came to rest in the driver's seat, he panted, trying to catch his breath, he had seen Bumblebee transform countless times, but never had he seen it that close up. Every metal panel seemed alive, like some magical substance trapping within it a mechanism so powerful, it was way beyond the understanding of even quantum physics. Sam shook his head.

**Guess that's where they get 'autonyms' robotic organisms from. **

"Bee?" Sam questioned adding a nervous chuckle as he noticed Bumblebee engage the locks, "What's going on?"

Bumblebee said nothing but merely secured the seatbelt around his charge's body, starting up his engine he began to back out of the rec room towards the entrance of the base which lead to the outside world.

"We, Sam are getting out of here, I've no time to explain, just hold on tight, this is going to be a bumpy ride."

"Hold onto... whaaaat!?!" Sam voice left him as Bumblebee floored his tyres prompting a screeching noise to fissure from the ground, accelerating away towards the base entrance .

"Bee!" Sam squeaked, "Watch out for the door!"

Sam's outburst of hysteria was short lived as the locking mechanism on the base's entrance turned green and the door began to lift upwards, revealing the raging snowstorm outside. Bumblebee gunned his engine as the camero gathered more speed. Sam felt himself being pushed backwards into the soft lining of the driver's seat at sheer speed they were travelling and like a yellow streaking bullet Bumblebee shot out of the base and into the blazing blizzard outside. The snow raged angrily all over Bumblebee's exposed metal body, the mech flinched at the sheer severity of the cold, cybertroian glyphs flashed in the mech's processor as some of the frozen precipitation managed to penetrate some of Bumblebee's exposed joints. Bumblebee closed the gaps in his metal more tightly, sealing off the droplets of snow as best he could.

"Sam?" Bumblebee's soft voice filled the cab. "Are you all right?" Bumblebee monitored Sam as he shifted his gaze towards the radio.

"I'm fine Bee, a little cold but ok." Just as the words had left Sam's mouth, a warm gush of air began to fill the cab as the seat Sam was sat upon began to gently warm. Sam smiled towards the dashboard leaning back into the comfy contours of the leather seat.

How's that?" Bee asked, whilst at the same time boosting the reception on his radio, attempting to get a signal.

"Alot better, thanks, Bee." Sam replied, once more turning attention towards the dashboard. Sam leaned forward, gently placing a hand on the steering wheel.

"How are you doing Bee? I mean with the cold and all." Sam asked quietly turning his attention to glance out of the windshield at the hundreds of snowflakes that were continually battering the yellow camero's body . He was concerned for his guardian, the cold could not be good for the yellow mech, much less the continuous stream of frozen water that was continuing to fall.

"I am fine Sam, the cold temperature is bearable, I have travelled in space and nothing is as cold as that, do not worry yourself, my body can take this. We are approaching a road that is not as severely affected by the snow which should lead us to the highway. It's going to be a long journey, I think it would be best if you got some rest."

The seat Sam was in leaned back, encouraging the teenager to settle back, Sam however remained sat upright.

"Maybe later." Sam sighed turning his attention to the swirling snowflakes outside.

Static issued from the radio as Bumblebee's voice once more filled the cab.

"Sam" the mech started before falling silent. Instead a classical tune filled the car and Sam found himself becoming sleepy.

Blearily Sam rubbed his eyes as he yawned loudly. "Bee..." Sam groaned. "Knock it off."

The radio abruptly fell silent and the dashboard seemed to sag, Sam immediately felt a wave of guilt hit him, and besides, nothing looked worse than a pouting camero. Sam sighed loudly as he stared at the dashboard.

"Bee, I'm sorry I didn't mean to snap at you."

The radio wavered once more before humming to life "It's ok Sam, still, please try and relax, we have a long way to go."

Sam nodded, leaning back against the reclined seat, he turned his gaze towards the window, staring out at the still searing snowstorm. Darkness was beginning to settle over the unrecognisable landscape, making the storm look more rabid, Sam curled up, snuggling further down into the leather seat taking in the familiar electronic scent that Bumblebee sometimes gave off. It comforted the teen as he let his thoughts wonder. Sam thought of his parents and of all the terrible things he had heard on the news, he hoped that they were all right.

Bumblebee's scanners suddently hummed to life, through all the interference they were just able to make out highway. Skidding slightly under the lack of grip, Bumblebee hastily turned onto the highway, ploughing through the already thick layer of snow that littered the road's surface. A sign flashed up in front and Bumblebee was just able to make out the big bold letters. **To the East. Nevada, Tranquilly...**

* * *

Optimus glanced around the rec room searching furiously for Bumblebee, he had not seen tail nor fender of the yellow mech or his charge and he was beginning to fear something had happened. The blue mech's fear was confirmed as his optics zoomed on the open door of the base where fragments of snow were still flowing inside the base from the outside, the mech's circuits froze in dread. Immediately he activated his com link...

_**"Optimus to Ironhide"**_

_**Static fissured before another deep voice joined the channel.**_

_**"Ironhide here."**_

_**"Ironhide, Bumblebee has disappeared, I can't find the youngling anywhere, I suspect he has took Sam and is attempting to return him home."**_

_**There was a pause before Ironhide's worried once more filled the com line.**_

_**"What in the name of the allspark is he thinking! Going off on his own, its fragging snowstorming out there, if something happens to him..." Ironhide's voice broke off in a wave of static**_

_**"I am well aware, but we have no means of tracking him, the adverse weather conditions prevent Teletran one from being able to detect Bumblebee's position.**_

_**Ironhide growled deeply, the noise filled Optimus's audio receptors. The black mech was surely worried for Bumblebee as he was particularly close to the bubbly yellow mech. Optimus whirred deeply, this was out of character for Bumblebee, this was in fact the first time the yellow mech had defied a direct order. Bumblebee was being severely reckless, something was clouding his judgement. What that something was, Optimus had no clue...  
**_

_**"We cannot leave them out there alone Optimus, not when Teletran One detected Barricade's signature in the direction of where Sam and Bumblebee are heading. The decepti-scum will no doubt take advantage of the fact Bumblebee will be vulnerable ."**_

_**A deep sigh filled the com line before Optimus's voice sounded over the channel. "I know my friend but I fear we may have no choice...**_

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................  
_  
Hope you guys have enjoyed part one of Snowbound, I will be working on the next chapter soon. Snowballs for all those who review! Thank you, and happy new year!  
_


	9. Snowbound: Part 2

_**Sorry for the slow update! I hit major writers block with this one. Researching the geology of the US took some time as well. This chapter was so big I have had to split it into two more parts, still hope everyone enjoys the next part.**_

**:Thoughts:**

_**:Comlink: **_

_:Radiobroadcasts:_

**First Snow**

Snowbound: Pt 2

By Steph

Wind howled through the bare trees, creaking and tearing at the once thick branches. Now they were thin thanks to continually bearing the brunt of the unstoppable snowstorm, a sound akin to only that of the fictional haunts of ghosts and monsters. Snow continually battered the ground in a fury of white daggers seemingly fighting a never ending battle for supremacy with the already chocked wintry landscape. The road's surface now a death trap for any vehicles that was foolish enough to even attempt making a journey in the treacherous arctic conditions. Darkness was now beginning to settle in over the snow swept landscape, with visibility already impossible, things were set to become even more perilous as the snow further pushed it's brunt into the heart of mother nature herself.

Sam shifted lightly in his sleep, murmuring softly to himself, a loud bang suddenly hit the side of the speeding yellow camero causing Sam to lurch upright in his seat. Blearily Sam stared out of the glass in front of him, watching the snow continually batter the front windshield of the yellow camero, Bumblebee's windshield wipers were working overtime, sweeping across the glassy surface in an effort to keep his visual sensors clear.

"Sam." Bumblebee's unusually loud voice filled the cab, perhaps trying to be heard above the howling wind outside. The camero's smooth path quickly altered as Bumblebee lost control of his direction momentarily before straightening out once more.

"We have just come off the main highway."

Sam felt his own breathing hitch. They were lost? Tightening his grip on the steering wheel in front of him, Sam gulped loudly attempting to formulate a response; his grip on the wheel was tight enough to send his knuckles white. Swallowing back the thick salvia that had begun to form there, Sam opened his mouth to speak.

"Then... Where are we going Bee?" he asked nervously, looking outside to try and see past the snow.

An audible snap could be heard a particularly strong blast of wind hit one of the trees beside the main road, the wooden structure snapped and began to fall into the road heading straight towards the yellow car. Bumblebee immediately swerved heavily to one side in an attempt to avoid the oncoming tree, the yellow autobot slid on the icy road seemingly struggling to keep his balance, the yellow autobot flung a seatbelt tightly against Sam's body strapping him down tightly upon the seat as he slammed on his breaks causing the vehicle to spin violently out of control in a tight circle. Bumblebee thinking quickly, turned his tires in the opposite direction, it seemed to work but it was already too late as Bumblebee's front axle made contact with the side of the road and began tumbling down the small slope which lead into the forest. Sam quickly shut his eyes as he felt his head bobbing up and down wildly at the pair's fast descent, Bumblebee tightened the seatbelt around his charge's body as he once more applied pressure on his breaks spinning to a wild stop in the middle of a forest clearing.

Breathing heavily, Sam turned his attention to the glowing dashboard in front of him, struggling against the tight restraint still latched to his body; Sam reached out and patted the dash.

"Bee?" he questioned softly.

A loud crackle of static issued out of the radio as Bumblebee's jarred voice flowed out of the speakers in an intangible flow of words.

"Ssaamm" Bumblebee crackled. "Arre youu all rriight?"

Sam nodded, eying the radio carefully. "Bee? What's wrong with your voice, you don't sound too good buddy."

A loud burst of squeaks ruptured out from the speakers as Bumblebee attempted to speak, the radio stuttered and faltered once more before pinging to life.

"Sssensors… malllffunctioning… needd time tto rreset."

Sam grimaced, lightly patting the dashboard in reassurance whilst gazing outside watching the snow begin to cover Bumblebee's once clear windshield.

"Oh, do you have any idea where we are?" Sam asked scanning the landscape around them, trying to spot something even remotely familiar. He could just make out a band of conifers trees just in front of them through the thick wave of snow, their branches hung limply as even the snow's weight threatened to break their mighty structure. They must be somewhere in a forest…

"Llooccation uunknown.. Too much intterrfearence… Scanners arree ddown."

Sam frowned, they were lost. In a snowstorm, Sam's heart quickened at the thought, this was bad… Bad things happened to people caught out in the cold. All those news reports of people disappearing, never turning up again until their bodies were uncovered as the snow melted. He shivered, and not because of the cold. Almost as if sensing Sam's fear, Bumblebee gargled but soft voice filled the cab.

"It'ss all right Ssam. I... won't llet anything hhappen to yyou."

In response, a trail of warm air began to flow out of Bumblebee's heater, lightly ruffling through Sam's hair and the seat Sam was sat on reclined backwards, fitting itself to the contours of Sam's body. Sam took in a deep breath as he settled down on the sleek leather surface, breathing in the familiar scent that Bumblebee often gave off, Sam allowed himself to relax. He was being silly, he was with a superior technological advanced autonomous robotic organism, Bumblebee wouldn't't let anything happen to him…

"Try and ggeet ssome rest Sam, I wiill keep wwatchh."

Sam smiled towards the dash, feeling the seat gently warm as his eyes began to droop shut of their own accord.

"Thanks Bee."

Sam turned his head and gazed outside, snuggled further down into the comfy contours of the leather seat. Sam watched as the snowflakes continued to fall heavily upon their ground, the white powder began to clump together, forming a band of white sheeting against the cool glass, plunging the camero into a world of its own.

* * *

A small rustle echoed through the bushes near the edge of the small forest clearing, Bumblebee immediately sat up on his shocks turning his optical sensors in the direction of the commotion, he detected nothing… The snow fell heavily as the wind swirled it around in a circle motion blowing random flakes in all directions, the thick powder making visibility impossible even for Cybertroian optics. Sighing heavily Bumblebee settled back down on his tires continually checking his surroundings whilst Sam slept on peacefully in his cab, seemingly oblivious to the guardian's dilemma, with his sensors down, Bumblebee was as good as blind. Turning his attention towards the blowing snow, Bumblebee failed to notice the brief flash of red light flicker in the trees just in behind the pair before fading away into the darkness once more….

* * *

Random glyphs of Cybertroian data flashed on and off a blue screen, continually scanning and monitoring the goings on of the outside world, cross referencing data but hitting an error when commanded to search beyond short range parameters...

"Any luck yet?" a loud gruff voice was the first to break the somber silence of the base.

Optimus shook his huge metal head, once more turning his attention to the screen of Teletran One,

"None, there is still too much interference from the adverse weather conditions; we can only hope that Bumblebee and Sam make it back to Tranquility safely."

Ironhide growled deeply to himself, his gaze focusing on the raging snowstorm outside, his spark twinged with worry for both Sam and Bumblebee, they were by now miles away and with the snow having blocked the entrance of the base, they was no way of reaching them, but still they had to try…

"So, we're just going to sit here like drones and do nothing? Ironhide's loud voice boomed angrily, turning with bright optics towards Optimus. "That boy's mother entrusted us with the care of her youngling and we are just going to sit here on our chassis and let them both fend for themselves out there in that fragging snowstorm?" Ironhide didn't hold back, he was furious at not being able to do _anything _at all, if something happened to ether one of them.

"What other choice do we have Ironhide?" Ratchet's voice interrupted, "You heard Optimus, we have no idea where Bumblebee is, the base's entrance is piled from here to Cybertron with snow, we **cannot** reach them. We are **stuck**."

Ironhide slammed his fist down on the desk in front of him, the metal surface cracked at the huge force as the mech's fist smashed into the metal.

"We have to slagging to do something!" he hollered at both Ratchet and Optimus. "You may not care about Sam and Bumblebee but I'm not staying here and letting them **die **out there!"

Ratchet's optics narrowed as he made a move towards the Ironhide, fury written all over the medic's face. "Why you sla.."

"Stand down Ratchet, Ironhide, both of you." Optimus's deep voice boomed, almost at once both mech's metal frames abruptly stilled, immediately obeying their leader's command. Optimus shook his metal head, lifting one hand up to his face in a very human like gesture, it wasn't often Optimus used his superior authority to order his mech's, but there were times where he had no choice. Turning towards Ironhide, he gently placed one hand upon the mech's shoulder.

"Ironhide, I too, just like you are deeply concerned for Sam and Bumblebee, you have no idea how much I blame myself for this entire situation, but we cannot afford to be fighting amongst ourselves. Not with the threat of the decepticons looming ever near. I fear for Bumblebee, but he is a brave solider, you have taught him well. If anyone can keep Sam safe, it is he."

Ironhide vented air through his system, nodding silently. " Optimus I.. Apologize, forgive me, I should not have said those things... I kno— he was cut off as Optimus's deep laugh filled the room.

"There is no need to apologize old friend, I understand."

Ironhide nodded turning his gaze towards Ratchet who was watching silently in the background. "Sorry Ratch, reckon you can forgive an old solider?" he asked lightly.

Ratchet paused, seeming to think about it a moment before he slowly nodded. "You're a Slagger Ironhide, but all right." Ratchet's optics lit up with amusement before he added. "You're just lucky I didn't have my wrenches with me this time."

Ironhide scoffed as he majestically raised his cannons on both forearms, twirling them in a fancy spin.

"You wouldn't stand a chance Hatchet, not with these beauties."

Optimus just shook his head at both bot's banter, turning his head, Optimus flickered his optics back to the raging snowstorm. "Be safe." He murmured softly, watching silently as the snow continued to fall upon the cold hardened ground.

* * *

Behind the thick branches of the trees, in the darkness a looming figure watched the yellow camero in the distance; two pairs of red optics stared intently as the yellow autobot settled further down on his shocks. Moving slowly backwards, the decepticon paced away to a safer position, not wanting to risk being spotted by the protective yellow mech. Rolls of silver shadows loomed out in the darkness as flakes of snow settled upon the black and white metal, thick black struts supported the mech's massive structure giving note to his bulk and tremendous size. A pair of black metal prongs supported an intimidating looking helmet that famed the decepticon's face high above his head as two pairs of crimson red optics flickered from side to side in the blackness. Barricade…

Crouching low towards the ground Barricade activated his com link, interrupting the long awaited silence of the decepticon communication channel.

"_**Barricade to Soundwave, target found, designation, Bumblebee. He has the fleshling with him, no sign of any other autobots, he appears to be alone." **_

_**Static issued over the com line as Soundwave's emotionless voice filled Barricade's audio receptors.**_

"_**Acknowledged, proceed, retrieve the boy. Do not harm him, for he contains information of the whereabouts of the Matrix, he will be needed alive."**_

"_**Understood, and if the bug attempts to protect the fleshling?" **_

_**There was a pause before just two single words sounded over the com channel.**_

"_**Terminate him."**_

Barricade severed his connection to the decepticon communication channel and turned his optics in the direction of the yellow camero, an evil smile stretched across his face plating.

* * *

Bumblebee scanned the area once more with his visual sensors as he had done for the past two hours, Sam was still sound asleep in his cab, Bumblebee fell silent, listening to the sounds of Sam's breathing. It soothed his anxiety he watched the flakes of snow fall quietly upon the ground. By now the entire side of Bumblebee frame was covered in snow, further worsening Bumblebee's attempts at trying to find out where they were. He needed to transform. Sighing heavily, Bumblebee's soft voice filled the cab.

"Sam, wake up."

Sam shifted in his sleep hearing a familiar noise disturb his peaceful slumber.

"Sam."

Yawning loudly Sam blearily opened his eyes assessing his surroundings; he relaxed seeing the familiar sight of Bumblebee's steering wheel in front of him. Absently rubbing his eye with one hand, Sam turned his attention towards the dashboard.

"What is it Bee?" He asked whilst still trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

Static issued over the radio as Bumblebee lifted Sam's seat upwards, easing his charge into a sitting position.

"My scanners are still down; I am unsure of our current location and think it would be best if I transformed to see where in the name of primus we are." The scout grumbled as he once more attempted to power up his scanners, cursing under his breath in Cybertroian when they wouldn't't respond.

Sam's eyes turned towards the falling snow outside, he shivered just at the thought of going out there, but on the other hand…

"Oh, ok. It would be nice for me to stretch my legs I guess, sure."

Bumblebee chuckled as Sam grabbed his bag from the back seat and began to pile on different layers of clothing; after Sam had finished putting on a particularly big looking hat did Bumblebee open the door. Layers of snow fell to the ground as Sam stepped out of the warm interior of Bumblebee's cab; he shivered lightly feeling the wintry wind lick his face. Besides him the unmistakable sounds of metal transforming filled the air, Sam watched in slight fascination as Bumblebee's metal began to twist and move in incomprehensible ways before a pair of huge sturdy legs stood in the snow as a mechanical bipedal robot replaced the yellow camero. Bumblebee's blue optics lit up in the darkness as he surveyed the wintry landscape.

"Well?" Sam asked from his place besides Bumblebee's feet. "Any idea where the hell we are?"

Bumblebee continued to glance around the forest clearing before the yellow mech shook his head,

"None" Bumblebee rumbled. Just as Bumblebee was about to offer a hand to his charge, a flash of red light in the distance caught his attention. Glancing in the direction of the light, Bumblebee caught a glimpse of white armor, his optics widened…

"Sam." Bumblebee spoke quietly "Run."

Sam stared wide eyed up at his guardian, taking a step back from the direction Bumblebee was staring, seeking protection behind one of Bumblebee's massive feet "Bee, wha…" he started only to have Bumblebee cut him off.

"Sam, go now!" Bumblebee shouted just as one of his arms shifted shape revealing a humming plasma cannon. The weapon glowed bright hot orange as Bumblebee pointed it to the looming figure emerging from the trees. Sam turned his head in the direction of where Bumblebee was pointing his cannon; a pair of crimson red optics met his gaze, Barricade. The decepticon lurched closer, his arm transforming in mid step revealing an equally powerful looking gun to the one his guardian possessed. Barricade once more stepped towards him kicking up snow behind him as he moved his massive feet, attempting to step around Bumblebee to get to Sam. Bumblebee's optics narrowed, he mirrored the decepticon's movements moving to stand in front of Sam, blocking the decepticon's path. Barricade's red optics narrowed as he stepped forward stopping several feet away from the pair, holstering his weapon, pointing it straight at Bumblebee's metal head. Sam swallowed nervously as Bumblebee didn't even flinch. The yellow mech merely mimicked Barricade's actions moving to point his own weapon at the decepticon's chest; Bumblebee shifted his foot giving Sam a gentle nudge in the direction of the trees, Sam however remained rooted on the spot.

"I'm only going to ask you once bug, step aside." Barricade's voice broke the tense silence, Sam's heart thundered in his chest as he peeked around the side of Bumblebee's foot seeing the decepticon's optics stare in his direction; he shivered moving back seeking protection behind Bumblebee.

"Not a chance Barricade, what the slag to do you want?" Bumblebee's voice echoed cold laced with an absolute hatred that only rivaled his spite for Megatron himself.

Barricade took a step closer, powering up his weapon as he walked. "Your pet, surrender the boy and I may let you leave in one piece."

Bumblebee's optics narrowed as his metal frame shook with anger, without hesitation, Bumblebee powered up his own cannon, not taking a step away from his charge. Bumblebee widened his stance moving closer towards the looming decepticon, not showing any fear.

"Not while I have one ounce of spark left in me."

An evil laugh left Barricade's vocalizer, "Then let me crush that pitiful thing you call a spark!"

Sam watched in horror as Barricade powered up his cannon and fired, the bullet streaked through the snow and hit its mark, right into Bumblebee's metal chest. A loud cry of pain ruptured from Bumblebee's vocalizer as he was thrown back by the sheer force of the attack, the yellow mech skidded across the snow before crashing back into a tree, and a loud bang filled the air as Bumblebee's body came to a stop sliding down the wooden trunk before laying motionless on the cold hardened ground.

"Bee!" Sam shouted; panic beginning to fill his body at the sight of his guardian's body motionless on the ground.

**No answer…**

"Come on Bee! Get up!" hysteria threatened to take over as Barricade moved forward towards Bumblebee's motionless body.

**Still nothing…**

Panicking filling him, Sam quickly ran in the direction of Bumblebee's motionless form in the snow. He felt moisture well up in his eyes as he came closer to where his guardian lay battered besides the fallen tree. Tears began to fall down Sam's cold cheeks as the true extent of Bumblebee's injuries became apparent. Without hesitation Sam clambered up his guardian's armor, his eyes widening at the metal; Numerous dents and scraches now laced Bumblebee's once smooth armor, a blue glowing like substance was oozing from a large gaping hole to the left upon Bumblebee's chest. Sam felt his breath hitch. Energon…

"Bee!" Sam chocked through his tears. Lifting his hands to perhaps stem the flow of Energon, his arms shook as he remembered Bumblebee's stern reprimand, Energon was toxic to humans. Sam threw his arms back down by his side, watching helplessly as the blue Energon continued to flow free of Bumblebee's body.

"Bee please! You can't…you can't leave me!"

**My guardian.**

Sam pressed his face to the side of Bumblebee's metal chest, flinching at just how cold it felt. Pressing his ear closer, Sam listened. Nothing… His heart almost stopped. He couldn't hear Bumblebee's spark thrums…

**No please, not Bee, not Bee!**

"No, no no, Bee" Sam whispered as his tears flowed free, splattering all over Bumblebee's metal. Heaving in a deep breath, Sam stroked down Bumblebee's armor, he was so cold…

"Bee..." Sam sniffed.

Barricade watched the scene play out with a satisfied smirk alit on his face plating; He paced forward closer towards the now grieving human. Quickly he scanned Bumblebee's fallen body, it registered negative, no spark activity. His smile widened, Megatron would surely reward him well.

"Your guardian is dead, human." Barricade's voice broke the silence, motioning towards Bumblebee's gaping injury. "His spark is gone, make this easier on yourself and cooperate, it would be such a shame if I had to kill you as well now wouldn't it?"

Sam sniffed and pressed his face closer Bumblebee's armor, before speaking to his guardian angel one last time… "Love you Bee." He uttered softly before slowly standing to face what was to come…

**To be continued…**

_**This tore me up writing this! Now before you want to kill me for hurting Bee, just wait and see... I hope you guys have enjoyed, just so you know, this is **__**not**__** the end. Up next, Snowbound part Three.**_


	10. Snowbound: Part 3

_Life's little dilemmas have being distracting me again, along with the ever cursed writer's block. But I am alive. Thank you for sticking with me throughout this long story. Only three chapters left now, I can't believe it … It has being a great privilege to write for all of you. _

_Thank you for all the reviews and support._

**:Thoughts:**

_:Radiobroadcasts:_

_**:Comlink:**_

**First Snow**

Snowbound: Pt 3

By Steph 

Tears flowed slowly down the human's cool cheeks, cooling almost instantly as the bitter winter air enveloped them, freezing them in a tight molecule of ice, hard and cold, just like the seemingly infinite despair which now intertwined itself deeply inside Sam's heart. Beside him, the hulking black Decepticon watched the human's display of emotions; they were so _weak _allowing their feelings to govern their logic. The Saleen watched with emotionless optics as a wide smile stretched across the ray of black ebony metal. The human was helpless without his protector. His smirk widened further, motioning one hand towards the flesh form hunched over in the snow.

"Come human, Megatron awaits us. He is going to be so pleased to see you again."

Sam's small form shook as he took a deep breath, eying his fallen guardian in the snow, his fists clenched in anger. Bee had given his life defending him and for _what_? For the Decepticons to get him anyway?

**I'm sorry Bee. Sorry I wasn't strong enough to look after myself. It's my fault, all of it. You're dead because of me.**

Barricade watched with impatience at the flesh creatures agonizing display of remorse. He growled, shifting one of his metal feet to knock the human's disgusting body back down into the snow.

"Now human," Barricade snarled impatiently. "Or do you want to see me tear your guardian's body apart leaving the Autobot's nothing to remember him by?"

Sam lifted his head from the ground, glowering at the Decepticon's face as he slowly rose to his feet, brushing away the lumps of snow that now littered his clothing. He said nothing as he paced forward away from Bumblebee's battered body turning to face the hulking black decepticon, anger boiling up inside of him as he stared up into the cruel crimson red optics. The very same ones that moments earlier had seen the very last flicker of Bumblebee's own blue orbs before snuffing the life out of them as easily as a toddler blowing out their birthday candles.

"There now," Barricade spoke, openly mocking Sam, "that wasn't too hard was it?"

Sam merely remained silent as he walked forward to meet Barricade's open palm, his heart not even quickening in pace as the Decepticon closed his hand tightly around his body, enough to cause rattles of pain to shoot through the human's chest. Sam didn't't scream. He wasn't about to give the merciless killer the satisfaction. Instead he remained silent, unafraid as he was carted off towards his fate. Was there even a point of being afraid? With Bee gone, he wasn't likely to survive anyway…

* * *

The wind rattled through the open window of the Autobot base as snow flurried in thick and heavy from the outside. White crystals blew in random directions compacting themselves together in a huge seething white mass of ice and snow. Besides the main entrance, Ironhide accompanied by Sideswipe continued to simultaneously fire small blasts of heat from their primary weapons in an effort to budge the ever-growing pile of snow. Their efforts seemed to be working as some of the white powder had begun to melt away, clearing what could a way be out.

"Keep it going Sideswipe, we're nearly there." Ironhide's voice echoed over the screeching wind. Sideswipe increased the heat intensity of his vents, pushing forward through the frozen perception.

"I hope Sam and Bumblebee are all right." The silver mech said as he pushed forward through the melting snow. "Have you had any luck in tracking their location?"

Ironhide whirred thoughtfully whilst pushing away at a particularly large pile of white powder.

"Yes, Teletran One got a lock on Bumblebee about an hour ago, he's somewhere close to Colorado, the signal was lost before we could get an exact fix on his location."

Just as Ironhide turned his attention back to the task at hand, his internal communicator beeped.

"_**Optimus to Ironhide." **_

Ironhide immediately activated his com link recognizing Optimus's voice over the channel.

"_**Ironhide here." **_There was a heavy pause before Optimus's deep voice sounded through Ironhide's audio receptors.

"_**Ironhide we have just received an update from Teletran One, We have found Bumblebee but his signal is weak, much weaker than it should be. It could indicate a glitch in our tracking system other then the adverse weather, however I think...**_

Ironhide scoffed loudly cutting Optimus off, _**"A glitch, don't be a fool Optimus. He growled angrily. "Teletran One never suffers errors, you know that. Something has happened to them, I can feel it in my circuits."**_

"_**If you could let me finish Ironhide." **_Optimus sighed _**"I think we need to rendezvous with Bumblebee just be safe. Barricade's signature was also detected. I fear the worst has befallen our comrade. How long until you and Sideswipe clear the main entrance?" **_

"_**Soon, we're nearly through, but the slagging stuff keeps piling back up. But we'll make it, don't you worry."**_

"_**Very well, contact me as soon as it is clear. We move out immediately Ironhide, time is of the essence. I can only hope we are not too late. Optimus out."**_

The line went silent as Ironhide severed his connection to his internal radio.

Ironhide's optics refocused as he came to meet the anxious stare of Sideswipe. The silver mech looked at him expectantly.

"Well? What's going on?" he demanded, "Are Sam and Bee all right?"

Ironhide went silent for a moment before he finally shook his head, turning to glare at the raging snow still falling upon the ground outside.

"I don't know." he finally admitted.

Sideswipe's optics widened as Ironhide turned away, resuming his task of clearing the thick piles of frozen snow in front of him.

**Please just let them be all right…**

* * *

Barricade frowned at the human encased within his palm. He did not show the slightest amount of fear, he wasn't even flinching as the Decepticon's grip tightened into what should be more than enough force to crack his fragile ribs. Barricade glowered, he wanted to see this human suffer. It was because of this hunk of flesh that he had to hide for almost two years after his failure at retrieving the elder Witwicky's glasses. He tightened his grip, feeling the human's body squirm in protest.

**Now we are getting somewhere, couldn't hurt just to make him scream. After all if it wasn't for this **_**insect **_**I would not have suffered the humiliation I was forced to endure. **

Barricade applied more pressure, a carefully calculated force, just enough to snap one of the human's ribs. As his metal hand tightened its grasp, a loud satisfying like cracking sound filled the air as Sam's small bone gave way under the force. A burning seething wave of pain ruptured from the side of his chest. Sam screamed as Barricade flexed his hand, jarring the already broken bone, tears began to flow freely as the decepticon finally released his monstrous hold, allowing Sam to clutch the side of his chest in a futile attempt to relieve the pain.

"My," Barricade mocked, "I expected a little more from the slayer of Megatron, but your just as weak and pathetic as the rest of your miserable kind."

Sam clenched the side of his chest, gripping his teeth to prevent the cries of pain that threatened to leave his mouth. His eyes narrowed, hot hatred burning inside him, hatred that surpassed even that of Agent Simmons from Sector Seven.

"I…am not weak." Sam voice spat, watching as Barricade's optics flickered from his injury back to his face.

"We shall see, but I believe Megatron will be the judge of that."

In his efforts in trying to torture Sam, Barricade had failed to check his auditory sensors, as a small click sounded directly behind Barricade's massive head.

The saleen's systems faltered momentarily, feeling heat glaze over the back of his neck joint. Sam's eyes widened as his gaze came to rest on the metal figure over Barricade's shoulder. One blue optic dimmed in the imitation of a wink as the mech moved his glowing weapon closer to the back of Barricade's head now touching the sleek black metal surface. Just four single words left the mech's vocalizer.

"Put _my _human down."

Barricade flinched feeling the cannon on the back of his head glow slightly hotter, reaffirming the threat. Turning slowly his optics met the glow of a yellow mech's humming plasma cannon.

"You!" Barricade stared, all pairs of optics widening at once. "But you were offline!" he shouted just as Bumblebee began to charge his cannon, Barricade was so close he could see the energy within it crackle to life, pulling in on itself as the deadly weapon readied to fire.

"You made a grave mistake when you threatened my charge, Barricade." Bumblebee threatened, "Put him down and let's finish this once and for all."

Barricade watched as Bumblebee lowered his cannon and for a fleeting moment. Barricade felt a sense of respect, the Autobot wanted to fight in a custom to the duels of Cybertron, Equal standings, a face off to the death, where they could be only one winner. Barricade looked down at Sam for a moment, seeing the human's now hopeful expression. The black mech snorted, tossing Sam's body aside causing the teenager to hit the snowy ground. The decepticon widened his stance as Bumblebee moved one metal palm to scoop up Sam's now shaking form in the snow. Carefully Bumblebee paced several feet away before gently setting Sam on the ground, he gazed tenderly down at his charge as Sam tenaciously hugged one of Bee's metal fingers, as if afraid to let go.

"It will be all right Sam." Bumblebee murmured gently. Sam nodded and let go, watching as Bumblebee straightened turning towards the Decepticon in front of him. Out of the corner of his optic Bumblebee addressed Sam.

"Whatever happens Sam, I'm glad I was able to be your guardian. Stay behind me and if the worst happens, run. Optimus and the others will find you."

Sam nodded through his tears as sobs began to rattle through his chest, agitating his broken rib.

"Thank you Bee." he uttered softy watching his guardian turn to face the looming decepticon.

"Ready to die Autobot?" Barricade sneered, transforming one of his arms into a huge girding weapon. Bumblebee said nothing as his battle mask dropped covering his face in a shroud of darkness turning the fun loving Bee into the deadly hornet. The cannon on the mech's arm hummed to life, glowing bright hot orange as Bumblebee pointed it directly at Barricade's metal head.

"Let's finish this."

As soon the words had left Bumblebee's vocalizer, the yellow mech charged, heading straight for the black decepticon, angry rage burning a flare in his spark chamber.

**This is for you Sam.**

Barricade watched with a satisfied smirk as the smaller Autobot headed straight for him, flurries of snow flying up behind the yellow Autobot as Bumblebee's metal body gathered speed. However Barricade was ready. As soon as the yellow scout was in striking distance Barricade swung his right arm, smashing his fist straight in to Bumblebee's exposed battle mask throwing small bits of yellow metal into the air. Bumblebee's blue optics glowed brighter as Barricade drove him back, forcing his smaller metal form down into the snow.

"How predictable, this planet has made you soft. You lack spark Autobot!" Barricade laughed, his evil taunt echoing off the trees surrounding them. From a distance away, Sam watched helplessly as his guardian struggled to get to his feet.

Bumblebee glowered disdainfully, pinning the Decepticon with a murderous glare.

"We shall see Barricade."

Without giving the Decepticon another warning, Bumblebee reformatted his left arm. The small metal panels on the mech's forearm shifted in mid-transformation, orange light crackled as two small blades appeared, flicking outwards in midstep. Turning on his feet, Bumblebee swung his arms in a tight circle as the two glowing blades bashed into the decepticon's chest armor throwing him backwards. Barricade let out a roar of pain as his entire frame seemingly froze in mid air before flying back, hitting one of the many trees behind them. The tree's trunk cracked under the force of the attack as Barricade's metal body slid down the rough bark. The yellow victor flicked both arms forcing both blades to slot back into place, disappearing out of sight. Barricade's quartet of red optics glared into the smaller mech's as he easily propped himself upright, apparently not even phased by the attack. Barricade transformed his arm in midstep, revealing a powerful looking cannon flashing dangerously orange as it hummed to life. With an evil smile, Barricade pointed it straight at the Autobot's head. Bumblebee didn't wait for the decepticon to fire. Bending his feet towards the ground, Bumblebee launched himself straight at the decepticon's body. Barricade growled deeply, tearing up the ground with his feet bearing Bumblebee's weight with both arms as he easily threw the autobot off him. Bumblebee cringed, feeling his pain receptors flare to life as the wound on his chest burned afresh, blue liquid Energon splattered to the ground flowing freely of Bumblebee's metal body.

"Ready to surrender bug?" Barricade sneered "You won down to pure luck in our last encounter, did you really expect to get lucky a second time?" He mocked watching as Bumblebee lifted one of his metal palms to the gaping hole dangerously close to his spark chamber. Bumblebee's blue optics narrowed dangerously as Barricade pointed his weapon in the direction of Sam, fearful brown eyes met the yellow mech's own optics as a pure bitter rage burned with a pit spawn hell fire in Bumblebee's spark chamber, threatening to consume all in its path.

"What's the matter Barricade? Afraid to take me, you still need threaten Sam? I don't remember you resorting to this in our last battle."

Barricade's left fist clenched in anger and in one death defying motion the Decepticon smashed his fist into Bumblebee's gaping chest, a screech of agony ruptured from Bumblebee's vocalizer. Barricade laughed, swinging his arm back again and ploughing it straight into Bumblebee's face. Fragments of yellow metal flung into the air as Barricade pounded the living daylights out of the smaller mech. Barricade raised his fist once more but before he could strike again…

"Hey! Decepti cluts!"

All of a sudden a small ball of snow smashed straight into the decepticon's face. Barricade wrenched back in surprise, immediately turning all four optics in the direction of the white projectile. Sam gulped, lowering his arm seeing the con's murderous glare glance in his direction. He let out a shaky breath as the towering black decepticon threw his guardian aside before loomed towards him, a mechanical growl rippling through Barricade's chest as he started in the direction of Sam.

"Oh shit."

Sam turned quickly on his heel, running in the direction of the trees. Barricade charged towards the fleeing human battle claws extended, ready to do some serious damage. Sam ran as fast his feet could carry him, but it was no use; he already knew the decepticon would be on him before he could make a break for the tree line.

Bumblebee, seizing his chance, quickly, stood pointing his twin plasma cannon at the decepticon's feet. Aiming carefully, Bumblebee fired. The streaking projectile flew through the air, lighting the white landscape in a glow of fire. The flying bullet hissed before bursting into flames by one of Barricade's thick metal struts. The con roared as white hot fire shot up his metal leg, disabling his balance circuits. As he struggled to maintain his equilibrium, his arms flew forward sporadically but it was no use. Barricade's heavy metal body crashed towards the ground with an almighty bang. Sam's head turned behind him, seeing the saleen on the cold hardened ground. Glancing in the direction of his guardian, Sam watched as Bumblebee held up one yellow palm, a silent warning for Sam to stay where he was.

Upon the ground, there was no movement. Bumblebee crept silently forward, his blue optics flickering nervously; the Decepticon could be back in the fight at any given moment. He was right. The black con lurched to his feet and like an oncoming train he slammed straight into Bumblebee's metal body, forcing him back. Bumblebee dug his feet in the snow bearing the con's great weight but somehow he managed to stay on his feet. Battle claws extended from the black mech's hands, scratching down on Bumblebee's chassis. The yellow Autobot flinched, feeling Barricade's black hydraulic hand clamp firmly down on his neck joint, throwing his head to the side.

"Pathetic Autobot!" Barricade roared slashing his battle claws at mech's spark casing.

Bumblebee flinched and jumped backwards,cringing as he felt Barricade's sharp fingers scrape down his chest armor. Barricade raised his fist to strike again but this time Bumblebee was ready as Barricade's fist flew towards his face. Bumblebee caught the con's hand and reversed the strike. Shifting one metal foot, Bumblebee launched a well aimed kick at the Decepticon's abdomen. The saleen shrieked with pain, but stubbornly held his ground as Bumblebee smashed the side of the decepticon's jagged face, striking again and again, throwing up shreds of silver metal into the air. Barricade finally let go of his grip on Bumblebee's shoulder, collapsing heavily into the snow, his crimson red optics flashed sporadically trying desperately to remain online until Bumblebee swung his arm back pelting a final punch at the decepticon's dented head. Barricade groaned deeply before his optics flickered and finally went blank. Bumblebee gazed at the decepticon for a moment checking this time, the con was offline and no longer a threat.

From several feet away Sam watched as Bumblebee shakily stood, taking several steps towards him through the snow. Sam could make out Bumblebee's distorted image but before the yellow mech could reach him, his legs gave way. Sam eyes widened as Bumblebee's battered form crumpled into the snow.

"Bee!" Sam shouted across the snowy landscape, panic beginning to rise in his throat when he received no response. Shifting his feet through the thick snow, Sam trudged forward while clutching the side of his chest as he raced over to where his guardian lay in the snow.

The true extent of Bumblebee's condition became apparent with every step Sam took. Every inch of the mech's armor was now laced in a wave of dents and scratches. Sam cringed, staring up to the now bigger gaping hole in Bumblebee's chest plating, blue Energon splattered all over the Autobot's body, no doubt the reason behind his sudden weakness. Sam slowly approach the metal form, a thick layer of snow now covered the side of Bumblebee's body. Shakily Sam gently tapped the side of Bee's yellow head, tears once more beginning to sting his eyes.

"Bee come on, I can't lose you again!"

Lowering his head, tears rolled down Sam's face. Beside him there was a deep mechanical groan. A chocked sob of relief passed Sam's lips as he quickly lifted his head meeting the familiar dabs of blue light.

"Sam." Bumblebee sighed, managing to weakly lift one metal palm and stroke down Sam's back. Sam nodded smiling as he moved closer to Bee's head.

"Shhh, don't try to talk." Sam uttered softly as he huddled against the mech's yellow metal.

Bumblebee ignored his charge's words, gently ruffling Sam's hair as flakes of snow fell lightly towards the ground.

"Are you... all right?" Bumblebee's voice broke off in a wave of static. Carefully cupping his hand against Sam's back, Bumblebee drew his charge's body closer towards him, feeling a sense of relief spread throughout his circuitry despite the pain of his wounds. Sam laughed lightly, nodding his head.

"I'm fine, thanks to you." Squeezing the side of Bumblebee's head in conformation. The yellow mech tightened his hold, feeling his life blood, Energon, seep free of his body. He was going to bleed to death. Bumblebee let out a groan, feeling his pain receptors flare as a few lone snowflakes fell upon the open wound.

"Bee! Are you all right?" Sam asked, glancing at the Autobot's chest. Bumblebee nodded his head hissing heavily in Cybertroian.

"It hurts, Primus! I need Ratchet now." Sam stroked a hand down the side of Bumblebee's metal face, murmuring gentle comforts to his friend.

"Don't worry Bee, I'm sure Ratchet and the others will be here soon."

Helplessly Sam glanced around the frozen landscape. Out in the distance several lights flickered on and off in the darkness. Dare he let himself hope…

The white light flashed again as a faint blob suddenly appeared through the snow, glowing neon yellow lights! The shape sped forward until Sam could make out the familiar sight of a hummer rescue vehicle. Behind it two others flanked it, a loud truck horn bleared loudly through the silent forest as the sounds of engines could be heard approaching.

"Ratchet!" Sam shouted. Hearing his own voice echo off the trees, a siren call answered him as the rescue hummer flew forward skidding to a slippery stop several feet away from where Sam sat. Two more vehicles screeched forward, all at once the three vehicles transformed as metal panels parted and rearranged themselves revealing the robot forms of Ratchet, Ironhide and Optimus.

"Over here, quick!" Sam shouted desperately waving one hand, Ratchet immediately paced forward crouching besides Bumblebee's damaged body, his blue optics scanned feverishly over Bumblebee's metal form. Ironhide and Optimus hung back watching with worried expressions.

"What happened?" demanded Ratchet as he worked on clamping Bumblebee's gaping chest wound. Sam gulped nervously, watching as Ratchet bent and folded metal back into place.

Bumblebee let out a painful groan as Ratchet began to solder his fuel lines shut, "Easy youngling." Ratchet murmured gently.

"Well!"The medic demanded. Sam shook his head out of his stupor and drew in a deep breath. "Barricade attacked, he caught us completely by surprise. Bee managed to fend him of but Barricade really did a number on him. The creeps over there." Sam pointed with one hand where the Decepticon lay in the snow.

Ironhide's optics narrowed dangerously as he started towards the fallen con. Optimus quickly lay a restraining hand on the weapon specialist's shoulder.

"No Ironhide, we will deal with him appropriately. We do not know the reason behind the attack."

Ironhide glared at his leader as one of his massive cannons flashed dangerously to life pointing at the con's chest.

"Do we need to know?" the black Autobot argued shifting his cannon reflexively. "That pit spawned glitchh has nearly off lined Bumblebee! He's too dangerous to leave here just laying around."

Optimus sighed, shaking his metal hand, "It could be vital to learn of the Decepticon's motives. Patience my friend, justice will be served in due time."

Ironhide fists clenched in anger as he stared over at the fallen decepticon with a murderous glare. He took a deep gust of air through his vents; turning to Optimus Ironhide gave a grudging nod. Optimus removed his hand glancing over to where Ratchet was now dealing with the task of sealing up Bumblebee's chest armour.

"How is he Ratchet?" he asked gravely. Taking in the damaged state of the small mech, his spark pulsed uncomfortably. The poor youngling was a mess; he only hoped that the damage was not permanent. Ratchet looked up from his work shaking his metal head.

"Critical. He has severed several main Energon lines that feed his spark, has numerous dents in his amour, and his left arm is no longer functioning."

From his place by Bumblebee's head Sam listen to Ratchet's report, cringing at every _single_ word, this was all _his _fault, if Bee died…

"Will he be all right?" Sam asked in a small voice glancing over at Bumblebee's face. The yellow mech's blue optics blinked at him in reassurance, tightening his grip on Sam's back.

Ratchet watched the small exchange, sympathy ghosting over his features as he too stroked one finger down Sam's back.

"I have done everything I can now, the rest is up to Bumblebee." Ratchet said gravely.

"This is all my fault, Ratch, Bee was only trying to protect me..." The teen trailed off unable to continue as more tears threatened to fall, besides him, Bumblebee shook his head in disapproval, tightening his hold around his charge. The medic's optics widened at the boy's outburst, slowly he shook his metal head.

"No Sam, do not blame yourself, Bumblebee did what he thought was right, you mean so very much to us all, Bumblebee only did what any of us would have done in this situation. I commend Bumblebee for his bravery, your very lucky to have escaped without further injury."

Sam smiled up at the medic in thanks, turning his gaze back to his guardian beside him, he sighed feeling Bumblebee move his body closer to his head. The mech's entire hand shifted nearly covering Sam's small form, a safe shield from the rest of the cruel, cold world.

Ratchet watched with a smile as he then turned his optics away from the pair to the snowy landscape, his gaze then flickered back to Ironhide.

"We need to move him out of the cold." He muttered out loud glancing at the falling snow. "Ironhide?"

Ironhide looked up, hearing the sound of his name. Taking a cue from Ratchet, Optimus transformed into his alt form, swinging open the doors to his trailer. Ironhide quickly paced over to his fallen comrade, putting his arms underneath Bumblebee's back. Along with Ratchet, the pair moved the yellow mech through the snow before gently lowering him inside Optimus's huge trailer.

"Sam?" Ratchet asked, approaching where Sam still sat hunched over in the snow. "Would you like to stay with him?"

Sam nodded and remained still as Ratchet scooped his body up with one palm and proceeded to walk towards the trailer. He felt himself being deposited upon the uninjured side of his guardian's metal chest. He sighed in relief, feeling Bumblebee's yellow hand rise up to cup his back as the doors behind him shut. The only light that remained was the gentle glow of Bumblebee's blue optics. Despite the worry that filled him, Sam felt his eyes become heavy as the motion of Optimus's now moving trailer and Bumblebee's slow but steady spark thrums began to lull him into a light slumber. The last thing Sam heard was the gentle strumming of a guitar playing lowly in the background along with a gentle voice filling his ears, the melody was calming, soothing…

_I will never let you fall _

_I'll stand up with you forever_

_I'll be there for you through it all_

_Even if saving you sends me to heaven…_

_**This one nearly killed me, but I hope you have enjoyed regardless, I would like to thank all you reviewers and of course my friend and beta Waterbender Oathkeeper for keeping me sane throughout the entire process. **_


	11. Long Road to Recovery

_**Alive still, life's a little crazy at the minute, exam results etc. Still here is the next chapter of First Snow.**_

_**Enjoy Guys : )**_

**:Thoughts:**

_**:Comlink:**_

_:Radiobroadcasts /flashbacks:_

**First Snow**

Long Road to Recovery

By Steph

**Unconsciousness…. **

Tight folds of darkness surrounded the small enclosures of Sam's mind. He was safe here, safe from the horrors of the very real world. Sam instinctively curled his body inwards despite the constant nightmares he wasn't ready to wake up. Not yet. He didn't want to face reality. That place was where the pain was. Where Bee was, fighting for his life and it was all his fault.

"Do you think he can hear us?" A voice whispered softly in the distance. Sam felt a light touch on the side of his face, it felt a lot like metal. He immediately clenched his eyes tighter together, ignoring the gentle caress that slowly moved to his hair.

"Let him sleep, he has being through much." Another deeper voice answered the first. The small background noises that were once quiet now rose in volume, like someone slowly turning up a radio. Sam cringed, feeling the encroaching awareness of the outside world call him away from his peaceful slumber. A light breeze ruffle past his face as his body gave an involuntary twitch. Gears whirred just to the left of his head.

"I think he's awake. Excuse me, I must go and let the others know of the news." The sound of doors shutting filled the room as a gentle metal finger gingerly touched the side of Sam's face. "

Sam? Can you hear me?" the voice asked.

Sam heaved in a deep breath, coughing as cold wet air hit the back of his throat. Slowly the teenager's eyes lifted opened as blurry white light clouded his vision. Squinting, Sam lifted a hand and rubbed the thick wads of sleep that layered his eyes with the back of his sleeve. A net of thick black wiring met his vision as Sam's eyes finally cleared. Stretching, Sam attempted to sit up but was stopped by a yellow palm.

"Easy Sam." The young teenager's eyes darted upwards as his body quickly tensed up but soon began to relax as he met the gentle glow of Ratchet's blue optics. The medic gently eased Sam's body back down into the soft feathery mattress he was currently laid upon.

"You need to be careful, I have had to brace the breakage in your chest. Your very lucky that rib of yours did not puncture your lung."

Sam's gaze flickered towards his bare chest, noting the large white bandage that now covered the left side of his skin. He frowned staring up accusingly at the neon hummer.

"You undressed me?" As soon as the words had left his mouth he regretted it. For one it sounded just plain wrong…

Ratchet merely rolled his optics, his face radiating light amusement at the teenager's poor choice of words.

"Yes, to simply repair the damage." Ratchet explained, but not without adding, "That you failed to tell me about."

Sam rolled his eyes, noticing the stern look the medic pinned him with. He ignored the jibe, turning his head to assess his surroundings. Large shelves of equipment surrounded the room to one side in a non synchronous order, making the place look like some sort of demented storage chamber. Sam blinked, allowing his eyes to wonder. Small trails of wiring lead from his left arm up to a huge machine set up next to the berth. Staring at the red luminous glow, Sam squinted, trying to decipher the symbols that flashed quickly over the screen. Ratchet watched the young human's actions with a smile.

"It's a bio- techno monitor, adapted to read human physiology." Ratchet explained, turning his attention towards the screen. "Far more advanced then anything used by human doctors. It allows me to directly monitor your body's vitals, without having to resort to invasive surgery."

Sam visibly paled at the words 'invasive surgery'. Several images of Barricade came to mind as his memory worked over time. Sam's body responded accordingly, his heart rate increased as floods of adrenalin filled the human's bloodstream. The display on the giant machine flashed, alerting Ratchet to his elevated fear. Acting quickly the medic gently placed a hand over the human's body bracing the sudden convulsion that were sending Sam's body into shock. Warming up the metal alloy surface, carefully Ratchet pressed the metal digit upon the human's skin.

"Relax Sam, you are still injured, you need to allow your body the time it needs to recover. Getting yourself worked up is not helping."

Slag it! It's too early to sedate him again. Come on Sam, calm down…

Sam took a deep breath, trying to will his body into a relaxed state, but try as he might he simply could not stop the constant shaking that rattled through his chest. Tears filled Sam's eyes as his mind replayed the recent events over and over like a deranged horror movie…

_"Pathetic human! I will take great pleasure in crushing your guardian's spark." _

_Sam watched in horror as Barricade clamped his silver metal claws down on Bumblebee's neck joint, wide blue optics caught Sam's brown eyes. Bumblebee struggled violently as Barricade lifted the mech's body clear off the ground…_

_"Bee!" _

"Sam! Listen to me. Your safe, nothing can hurt you here."

Ratchet closed his hand all the way around Sam's body, lifting the human upwards before gently settling him directly over his own spark chamber cupping his hands around the shaking form effectively cutting off all resistance. It seemed to work as Sam's shakings began to slow, like some old subconscious instinct that responded to being enclosed in a small warm space. Sam felt all the energy drain from him, he slumped heavily against the medic's armour allowing tears to consume his face.

"It's all right Sam." Ratchet murmured, feeling the teenager's tears drip onto his metal. His spark clenched, seeing Sam in this state, looking so much like a helpless child that just wanted to be held, and protected. One finger gently rest against Sam's head, stroking through his brown hair, Sam sniffed, huddling closer to Ratchet's chest plating. After some time, Sam's sobs quietened though his tears continued to fall.

"Ratchet?" Sam mumbled "Can I…see Bee?"

Ratchet frowned, Bumblebee was still critical. After stabilizing the youngling's spark, Optimus, Ironhide, and Ratchet had quickly hurried to the old base in Tranquillity. It had been quicker then going back; time was something Bumblebee didn't have on his side. The young mech was now in a modified stasis whilst his own repair systems got to work, fixing the damage Ratchet was unable to repair.

"Sam… Ratchet began. "Bumblebee is not in any condition to be visited. I am sure he wouldn't want you traumatized any further."

Sam sniffed, lowering his head towards the floor, Ratchet watched, feeling guilt wrenched at his spark chamber.

"Please Ratch, I need to see him."

Ratchet gushed air from his vents, seeing tears trickle down Sam's face. "Very well, but prepare yourself Sam, it is not a pleasant sight."

Sam nodded, tightening his grip on the medic's armour as he began to the short walk to the medical bay. There was a pause as Ratchet came to a stop outside the double doors where Bumblebee was currently being treated. Tapping a short code into the panel on the wall, both doors slid open, Sam's breath caught in his throat at the sight that now lay before him.

Upon a metal berth lay the battered form of his guardian. Thick clear cables protruded from the mech's chest connecting him to a huge metal machine, a glowing blue substance flowed directly from it straight into Bumblebee's open spark chamber. The machine beeped with each spark thrum sounding just like a human heartbeat sensor. Sam grimaced as his eyes flickered over Bumblebee's motionless form. The mech's normally bright blue optics were a darkened grey colour like he was recharging, dents and scratches still layered angrily all over Bumblebee's metal body. Ratchet watched Sam's reaction carefully; he didn't need him becoming stressed again. Only when Sam showed no signs of distress did Ratchet walk forward. Slowly the medic approached the metal berth gently setting Sam down upon Bumblebee's upper arm. Sam leaned his head forward, craning his neck to gaze at Bumblebee's expressionless face. With tender like care Sam stroked one small hand down Bumblebee's faceplate, flinching back at how cold the metal surface felt under his skin.

"Ratchet, what's wrong with him? He feels so cold."

The medic turned with a grave expression, "Bumblebee is in a modified stasis whilst his repair systems get to work fixing the damage, I have shut down all but necessary functions. Only his spark and processor are now online. He has being severely injured Sam."

Sam sighed once more, huddling his body closer to Bumblebee's neck joint, feeling the tears once more threaten to fall. "Will he live?" Sam's voice sounded, muffled by Bumblebee's metal.

Ratchet looked up from calibrating the machines controls, "Bumblebee is strong. I only hope it will be enough."

Sam nodded, gazing down at Bumblebee's face. Gently, he lay one hand on the mech's cheek. "Come on Bee, keep fighting."

* * *

**Darkness….**

Cybertronian characters began to scroll from across the blackness before faltering across a blank screen, deciphering and decoding themselves into a semi synchronous order.

**Sam… My friend, my charge… Protect…**

Only the darkness surrounded him, errors upon errors registered themselves deep in within his own programming.

_**"Ready to die Autobot?"**_

That voice…

Images of broken memory files flashed up quickly in the offline mech's processor…

**ERROR.**

**FIREWALL BREACHED**.

_**"I will take great pleasure in crushing your pathetic human!"**_

He was down, helpless, blinded. Had to fight back! Couldn't let Barricade win…

_**"Come on Bee, keep fighting…"**_

**That voice… Sam?**

**FIREWALL INITATED.**

**PROCESSOR STABLIZED**.

* * *

White bands of colour appeared as the darkness parted in two distinct halves, bringing with it coherent vision. Codes of programming began to reassert itself as it warmed, summoning power back to the main systems.

Consciousness…

Bumblebee groaned deeply, his cold offline vocalizer sparking to life with a sharp hiss. Optics and audio receptors followed suit, crackling to life as they too came online.

"Bee?" A small voice questioned. Bumblebee blinked, trying to clear his distorted vision. A small warm hand gingerly touched the side of Bumblebee's metal face.

"Can you hear me buddy?" Bumblebee flickered his optics to the right, seeing the worried expression of his charge.

"Saamm." Bumblebee's vocalizer crackled. He tried to sit up but found his main motor functions were still offline. Instead Bumblebee carefully attempted to lift one metal hand, it took a great deal of effort but Bumblebee found he was able to cup one metal palm across Sam's back reassuring the teenager he was okay.

"Bee, I… I…" Sam began, only to find words were not enough. Instead, Sam threw both of his arms around Bumblebee's neck joint, pressing his face against the sleek metal surface. Tears of joy began to flow down Sam's face,

"Sam." Bumblebee sighed. Relief filling his spark, at hearing Sam's own heartbeat echoing in his audio receptors. The yellow mech acquiesced the embrace, tightening his grip around Sam's shoulders.

"I'm so glad your okay." Sam murmured softly, lifting his head to see the gentle glow of Bumblebee's familiar blue optics staring back at him in the low light. Tilting his head to one side Sam glanced around the room, seeing the machine besides Bumblebee continuing to flow energon into his body, Sam grimaced, it looked painful…

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked, wearingly eyeing the piece of tubing that was still stuck in Bumblebee's chest. The yellow mech whirred thoughtfully until the very last thing Sam expected to hear filled the room.

_I get knocked down_

_But I get up again_

_You're never gunna keep me down…_

Sam burst out into laughter shaking his head. "Your definitely feeling better." The music abruptly stopped as Bumblebee pointed towards one of the bandages that was visible on Sam's arm. Clicking softly Bumblebee gently tapped Sam's arm with one metal finger.

"Your hurt." Bumblebee said softly. "My fault." His bright optics dimmed in sorrow. Sam patted the side of Bumblebee's metal head with a smile.

"It's fine, nothing Ratchet couldn't fix. You just concentrate on getting yourself better now okay? No worrying about me, you've got all the time in the world for that."

Bumblebee smiled, stroking down Sam's back, then gently wrapping his entire hand around Sam's body, he eased the teenager down into a laying position. Placing his palm over Sam's form as the teenager tried to sit up, Bumblebee twittered shaking his head.

"Be that as it may, I am still your guardian Sam Witwicky, now you get some rest as well."

Sam grumbled good naturedly but settled his head down in the crook of Bumblebee's arm, he closed his eyes but not without adding.

"Your one stubborn bot, you know that?"

Bumblebee chuckled, placing his hand lightly over Sam's body to keep him warm, humming softly in his chest.

"Yes, and your one stubborn human, you know that?"

Sam opened one eye, jokingly tapping the metal beside him with the back of his open palm. "I guess I am." he laughed, once more settling down. "But your worst."

Bumblebee opened both optics, giving a mock warning glare to his human. "Goodnight Sam." he said before shutting off both his optics.

Sam laughed, taking that as his queue to just shut up and drop the matter. He closed his eyes feeling the familiar humming sound echo throughout his body as Bumblebee powered down into recharge. Bumblebee's metal abruptly began to warm as his coolant systems powered down, Sam pressed his chest against Bumblebee's warmed arm he was resting against. It soothed the dull aching pain in his rib as his consciousness too began to leave him. Smiling happily Sam curled up closing his eyes, falling asleep next to the mech who truly was his guardian, and this time, the nightmares didn't follow.

_**Fini for this chapter, next up the final chapter of First Snow 'Spirit Of Christmas'. Thank you for all the reviews**_ _**and support it has being really good fun writing this, I only hope you all have enjoyed it as much as me. Thank you, and a special thank you once more to my beta Waterbender Oathkeeper for his endless patience. **_

**WB**


	12. Spirit Of Christmas

**:Thoughts:**

_:Radiobroadcast/thoughts :_

_**:Comlink:**_

**First Snow**

Spirit Of Christmas

By Steph

The enormous snow storm that had engulfed the entire country was finally beginning to let up, and for the first time in over two weeks the skies looked clear as the final flake of snow had fallen over Tranquilly. Just in time as Christmas was now only just two days away and despite the enormous disruption people were determined to ensure the festive season went on ahead as normal. All around Sam's home town Christmas lights were being hung in every direction, images of flashing baubles and glittering tinsel dominated the streets. Each corner of town harbingered some sort of Christmas decoration, but by far the most grand was the huge decorated Christmas tree that stood in the centre of town, so huge was the grand tree that it could give even Optimus Prime a challenge of height.

Sam had now being in the care of the Ratchet for over a week, and ever since both he and Bumblebee had been found they had being making a remarkable recovery. Even with Ratchet's constant nagging of being careful nothing could dampen the young teenager's spirits as he too prepared for the Christmas holiday. His rib was finally healing and Bumblebee was on the mend, the hole in the mech's chest beginning to close as his own repair systems got to work fixing the outer damage. Like Sam, it would be a couple of weeks before he was fully recovered, but in Sam's opinion, things were starting to look up. The autobots had all relocated to their previous base of operations in Tranquillity in order for Sam to be closer to his family, and since Bumblebee and Sam were over halfway before Barricade attacked, it seemed pointless to go back. So just as Sam had initially wished Optimus had ordered everyone back to Tranquillity. Ironhide of course was less then pleased, having to trek through another two thousand miles worth of endless snow, Sideswipe however ensured Ironhide's sombre mood didn't ruin the trip as he later rendezvoused with the group clearly happy to be heading home. The whereabouts of Barricade remained a mystery as when Optimus and Ironhide returned to retrieve the decepticon for questioning, all they found was a large indentation in the snow. So without dragging out the conflict any longer then necessary the mission had been called off with the priority now, nursing both Sam and Bumblebee back to full health.

"All right Sam, lets check how that rib of yours is healing." Sam groaned from his position on the huge sofa, this was the third time today Ratchet had checked him over, it felt worse then being coddled by his mother, and Sam thought she was obsessive.

"Aww, Ratchet, do you have to? You checked about two hours ago, can't you give it a rest? I feel worst then Mojo being looked over by the vet."

Ratchet's blue optics rolled sarcastically, Sam looked up in slight shock, it wasn't every often Ratchet took on human body language, if anything the medic tended to shy away from it.

"The longer you complain about it, the longer I have to take to convince you to sit still long enough for me to take my scans. So do as you human say and suck it up."

Sam folded his arms, huffing loudly. Stupid robots with their always correct logic. Ratchet puckered him up from the sofa, moving the human towards his face, there was an almost unnoticeable pause in Ratchet's inner workings, as the mech's blue optics brightened. Sam stared intently into the soft orbs, God he would never call them just eyes again, the thousands of lenses within the blue glowing light flickering so fast Sam couldn't distinguish one flash from the other. Watching with fascination, Sam almost failed to notice, the medic had completed his assessment and was now going over the data he had collected. Sam blinked, clearing his vision of the fancy light show he had just witnessed.

"Well, it seems your rib is healing nicely, though your going to have to take it easy for the next three weeks. That means no strenuous exercise, I will see to it Bumblebee keeps an optic on you."

Sam frowned noting now they were moving, great, even Bee would be mother hen-ing him, it was although Ratchet was trying to stuff him into a bubble.

"Ratchet, do you have to bring Bee into this?" Sam asked. Ratchet didn't answer straight away, instead he paused in mid step, tapping a string of numbers into the panel on the side of the door. Both opened, and Ratchet paced forward, Sam looked around they were in the med bay. He smiled lightly spotting Bumblebee laid on one of the metal berths clearly in recharge.

"Yes, if you wish to return home, I need to be sure your rib will heal in my absence, therefore, with the permission of your parents, Bumblebee will be accompanying you. It will also give him the opportunity to properly recuperate."

Sam sighed once more, it was pointless to argue, Bumblebee would no doubt agree, overprotective mech's and all. It really wasn't fair, it was nearly Christmas. What happened to just kicking back and having fun? Sam remained silent as Ratchet deposited him into Bumblebee's outstretched palm, the yellow scout must have woke up in the middle of the conversation. Sam listened silently as the pair exchanged with each other in fast clicks of Cybertroian, every so often they would glance down at him, clearly they were talking about him. Sam glowered, why couldn't they just talk in English? Sam felt Bumblebee's hand tighten reflexively around him as he silently nodded at Ratchet, the medic gave Bumblebee a stern look then without another word headed for the door. Sam stared puzzled in the medic's direction.

"What was all that about?" Sam asked. Bumblebee clicked lightly as he so often did when he wanted to distract his charge.

"Nothing, just some issues regarding I accompanying you home. Ratchet wants to be sure I look after you carefully."

Sam clenched his fists in anger.

**He wasn't helpless damn it! **

Bumblebee frowned, noting Sam's elevated heartbeat and rise in temperature. "Are you all right Sam?" the scout asked hesitantly. Sam didn't answer, he breathed deeply, glaring at his hands with a stare strong enough to burn a hole through metal. Bumblebee lifted one metal finger, bringing it slowly forward to touch the human's back. Sam flinched as Bumblebee brought his finger in contact his skin. Noticing Sam's reaction, Bumblebee flickered his optics sideways, puzzled.

"Sam?" Bumblebee questioned, not liking the long drawn out silence. Once more Bumblebee reached down with one hand, but this time instead of remaining still, Sam quickly moved off to the side avoiding Bumblebee's massive palm. Bumblebee moved his hand back feeling a sharp jab of regret gnaw at his spark chamber.

"Sam." Bumblebee said softly. Lowering his head so his optics were level with Sam's face. "What's wrong?"

Sam looked up at Bumblebee's yellow face, wrapping his arms around both knees and sighed, tucking his head down.

"I just…" Sam opened and closed his mouth, not really sure of what to say.

Bumblebee tilted his head to the side, twittering softly. "You what?" he prompted gently. Sam lifted his head staring at the mech's bright optics.

"I'm just fed up, Bee. I want to be able to go home and have fun you know? Without you worrying about me the whole time. I mean, I understand why, Barricade really took us by surprise, but it's nearly Christmas… Sam trailed off, falling silent.

Bumblebee nodded. "Sam, I understand your frustrations really, I do. I know we can be overbearing at times, but you must understand. Barricade's encounter is still very fresh on our minds, none of us…_especially_ myself, want to see anything happen to you. I thought I'd almost lost you back there.

Sam swallowed guilty, hearing the sheer sadness in Bee's voice.

**Talk about me and my big mouth.**

"Bee…" Sam's voice broke as emotion welled up in his throat. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even think about how you felt about it all."

Bumblebee opened his palm, a clear invitation. Sam didn't hesitate, he moved forward allowing Bumblebee to scoop him up, tucking him next to the mech's spark chamber, the nearest thing to a hug, the pair could achieve. Sam gazed at Bumblebee's armour, noting the small hole in the metal that was still healing. Bumblebee tightened his hold as Sam gripped the mech's metal.

"Just, get better for me, let us, let me, help you do that."

Sam nodded, laughing as a single tear rolled down his face. "You big softie" he teased. Wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "I swear the whole lot of you are worse then my mother."

Bumblebee chuckled at that. Clicking in agreement. "Probably, but don't let Ironhide hear you say that. I've had enough of stopping bigger mech's from wanting to crush you for one day."

Sam burst out into laughter, "I'll do my best" he promised.

...

::Out on patrol::

Ironhide's processor hurt, badly. He couldn't understand it. Why did the humans put so much effort into celebrating just one day of the year? All the fuss, it seemed pointless, everywhere he looked, humans were rushing from one place to another. Their arms filled with various boxes and packages, whilst the town square looked like Wheeljack had being let loose.

"_**Seems silly to me" **_murmured Ironhide through the open com channel. Idly scanning his optics over one of the large Christmas trees that had been erected in the town square as he drove past. Besides him a silver corvette drove alongside.

"_**I think it's great." **_Sideswipe hummed. Glancing at the glittering objects that passed by.

Ironhide snorted through his exhaust, turning around the corner. "_**You would, I don't understand why the humans put so much effort into it. Seems like a slagging waste of time."**_

Sideswipe turned, lightly bashing the side of Ironhide's front wheel. _**"Oh lighten up, I think it's special in its own way. Sam explained it to me. Christmas is about celebrating togetherness and being thankful for what we have. It's nice the humans have this holiday, it's better then that one where they all dress up running around scaring reach other. I couldn't recharge for a week after Sam's attempt to dress up Bumblebee, nearly scared the spark right out of me."**_

Ironhide growled, remembering how Bumblebee had ran around the base dressed as some sort of Cybertroian vampire. Whether he liked to admit it or not, Bumblebee had managed to startle him.

"_**I like the one where they shoot those strange missiles into the air that make different colours. Now that's a holiday**_.**"**

Sideswipe laughed, his voice echoing over Ironhide's speakers. _**"You mean you liked that one because you got to blow stuff up, as well as firing one at Bumblebee for the scaring fiasco?"**_

Ironhide grumbled sourly to himself. _**"Just concentrate on patrol." **_Sideswipe laughed even harder. Getting annoyed, Ironhide muted the channel hissing under his breath in cybertroian.

"Fragging younglings."

…...

::Autobot Base::

Optimus sighed heavily, it was time for him to inform Sam's parents of what had transpired whilst their son had being in his care. Both humans were now expecting their son home. The blue mech's spark pulsed in apprehension , Judy Witwicky was a woman not to be taken lightly. She had chased Optimus off the yard after finding out he was the one who had crushed her flowers. How was he suppose to explain that her only son had gotten lost, injured and nearly killed by a crazy glitched decepticon? This was one conversation he was not looking forward to.

Optimus's com automatically secured a communication line. As he only opened the connection a woman's voice echoed over the mech's speakers.

"_**Hello?" **_

Optimus paused, whirring thoughtfully. Best start on good terms. _**"Hello. Mrs Witwicky?" **_

"_**Yes?" **_Judy sounded puzzled, obviously not recognising Optimus's deep voice over the phone line. The call did not come with a number.

"_**This is Optimus Prime, I am calling in regards to your son." **_

On the other end of the line, Judy nearly dropped the phone in shock. _**"Optimus…? How the hell did you get my number! Better yet how in God's name are you calling me, do you even have a phone? And Sam, is he all right! Is he hurt?**_

Optimus cringed. Turning the volume down, as the Judy's shrill voice shouted in his audio receptors.

"_**Mrs Witwicky, if you could just allow me to explain." **_Optimus waited and when Judy did not resume speaking he continued.

"_**Thank you. As you already know, Sam has being staying for the winter break with us with your permission at our new base. I gave you my word before Sam joined us that I would protect his welfare while he was with us. Just over a week ago, during the heavy snowstorm, Sam was worried he would not be able to return home to you in time for Christmas. Bumblebee, asked my permission to return Sam home himself because all the air traffic being grounded, I did not agree to the journey, believing it to be too dangerous. However Bumblebee decided to go against my orders, attempting the journey without the knowledge of myself or the others in under my command. Whilst on their way to Tranquillity, Bumblebee and Sam were attacked by the decepticon Barricade."**_

At the word 'decepticon' Optimus's detected an increase in Judy's breathing rate through the communication line.

"_**What happened?" **_She asked flatly, interrupting. _**"You gave me your word! That nothing would happen to Sam and now your telling me my baby has being hurt!"**_

Optimus allowed Judy to rant herself out before resuming speaking.

"_**Mrs Witwicky, please calm yourself. During the attack Sam sustained some injuries, that were only minor in light of the circumstances. A fractured rib and some bruising inflicted when Barricade managed to get a hold of him. Our medical officer Ratchet has being treating Sam for the past week and I am happy to say he has made very good progress." **_

Optimus fell silent waiting for Judy to speak. After what seemed like an enormous span of time did Judy finally begin speaking. _**"Thank Goodness! Sam better be all right because next time I see Bumblebee I am having words, and perhaps I will bring along my baseball bat for good swing while I'm at it! What on earth was he thinking, I thought Bumblebee was suppose to be my son's guardian, not purposely endangering him." **_

Optimus sighed, little did Judy Witwicky know, Bumblebee had almost died protecting Sam. Yes the mech had being reckless but no one could doubt Bumblebee's fierce loyalty to Sam.

"_**Bumblebee is very much your son's guardian Mrs Witwicky. He was nearly off lined protecting Sam in battle. Yes he was reckless and has received disciplinary action against him, but his bravery and fierce determination of protecting your son is to be commended." **_

Judy paused, feeling guilt tug at her heartstrings. _**"He nearly died?" **_

Optimus's deep voice grew soft, hearing the emotion in Judy's words.

"_**Yes" **_Optimus replied. _**"Bumblebee was severely injured, we nearly lost him. Ratchet however arrived just in time and thankfully managed to stablize Bumblebee's spark. He is now recovering." **_

Judy swallowed back the lump that had begun to rise in her throat. She had spoken to Bumblebee a few times before, the bouncy yellow mech was always so polite and thoughtful, especially in regards to Sam. _**"Optimus, I'm sorry. Sam is my only child and the thought of loosing him scares me. I did not mean any offence towards Bumblebee and would like the opportunity to thank him."**_

Optimus mentally smiled. Humans for all they were, often showed great compassion, and were fiercely protective of their children. He laughed at the thought. It certainly was a bad idea to get on the wrong side of them.

"_**You have nothing to be sorry for Mrs Witwicky, your anger and upset is justified. You love your son very much. I can only apologise that you have not being informed of this earlier, communication has only just recently being established. It seemed the snowstorm did a lot of damage." **_

Judy smiled. Sam had made himself some really good friends, even if they were giant alien robots from out of space.

"_**It's all right, Optimus. Thank you for letting me know, I was beginning worry for him."**_

Optimus paused thinking for a moment. _**"Your are most welcome. Sam will be returning home tomorrow, we moved back to our old base of operations in Tranquillity as it was the closest and time was not of the essence. Bumblebee will be accompanying him, with your permission of course."**_

Judy smiled, she would get the chance to thank Bumblebee personally for his bravery.

"_**Of course, I will be glad to have him. If he wishes Bumblebee can join in the celebrations, after all he is family."**_

Optimus's spark warmed at the last statement. _**"I am sure Bumblebee will be honoured. I will forward your invitation, thank you Mrs Witwicky."**_

Judy laughed. _**"No thank you, Optimus. I don't know if you celebrate, but have a good Christmas, you have my gratitude for taking care of Sam. **_

"_**A merry Christmas to you also." **_Optimus replied. _**"It was my pleasure. I hope we speak again soon, Mrs Witwicky but perhaps on a lighter note." **_

Judy chuckled. _**"We can only hope. Goodbye." **_

The line went dead, and Optimus closed his com link, he smiled lightly to himself. It could have been much worse.

…...

::Christmas Eve::

The last day had passed in a blur and now Christmas was finally nearly here. Baubles and tinsel littered the streets in a display of vivid colour, with Christmas trees visible in nearly every house. Night had descended upon the human settlement of Tranquillity, and now the true spirit of Christmas was ready to come to life.

"Ready to go Sam?" Bumblebee's voice interrupted the young teenager from his thoughts. Sam shook his head, snapping himself out of his trance like state. He smiled up seeing Bumblebee approach him, shouldering his bag, Sam took one last look around the rec room.

"In a minute, I just want to say goodbye to…" he was cut off as four more mech's enter the room.

"You weren't thinking of leaving without saying goodbye were you?" Sideswipe chuckled. Sam looked up to see the familiar faces of Sideswipe, Ironhide, Ratchet and Optimus.

The silver mech slowly came to a crouch just in front of Sam holding out one metal palm. Sam stared at the mech's hand for a second before noticing a small object inside. It looked very small, wrapped in a silver shining paper with a single gold ribbon around it.

"Something for you from all of us." Optimus clarified. "We don't usually celebrate your holidays, but we could not ignore this special occasion."

Sam's eyes widened, as he glanced up from Optimus to the other pairs of optics staring down at him. "I don't know what to say." Carefully taking the small object from Sideswipe's palm.

"I just hope you like it, the slagging this took nearly all day to wrap." Ratchet grumbled, Sam smiled up at the medic, rolling his eyes.

"Thank you." Sam said. Bumblebee gently couched next to his charge, touching his back to get his attention.

"Open it, I know it's not Christmas yet but we all want to watch you unwrap it."

Sam nodded, carefully peeling back the silver paper, to say it had been wrapped by giant robots, it was very neat, neater then Sam could manage. He mentally smiled at the image of Ratchet trying to wrap such a small awkward object. Pulling back the wrapping revealed a black book about A4 sized, turning over the curious gift, Sam noticed some gold lettering, it read,_ For the Memories_. Turning over the first page, Sam gasped, inside the book were photos upon photos. He laughed as numerous individual photos caught his attention some, recent and some, not so recent ones springing with them random flashbacks. One was taken during Halloween, when he and Bumblebee had dressed up and gone on a scaring rampage around base, only to have Ironhide throw a bucket of water over them both. Another when Ratchet had been tutoring him in biology. Even one of both he and Optimus gazing up at the stars. Flicking the pages, Sam spotted many pictures, each of them holding a special memory, falling asleep against Bee under the tree at the overlook, Ironhide's face as he lit some fireworks on bonfire night. Sideswipe after a masterful prank with Sam against Optimus. One in particular caught his attention, it was of everyone, at the overlook all watching the sunset together. A lump of emotion welled up in Sam's throat, glancing up at the group of friends who had as much become his family.

"It's beautiful, best gift I have ever got, hands down."

Bumblebee clicked happily, curling one palm around Sam's body. "We wanted to give you something to treasure, the photos were all taken by us, you were quite oblivious to most of them." Bumblebee laughed.

Sam huddled against Bumblebee's hand for a moment before glancing around at everyone. "I will treasure this for a long time to come, thank you guys, all of you."

All the mech's around the room nodded. Bumblebee stood up and took a step back transforming into his familiar camero form, the door on the driver's side popped open. It was time to go.

"Merry Christmas everyone." Sam said softly before climbing into Bumblebee's open door,.

"Merry Christmas Sam." Optimus replied, bending down to ruffle Sam's hair.

Ratchet and Ironhide smiled down at Sam, silently wishing him safe travels. Sideswipe crouched next to Sam's open door, laughing happily. "Stay out of trouble." He warned dimming one optic in the imitation of a wink. "See you next year."

Sam chuckled, nodding, punching his fist against the flat of Sideswipe's hand. Sideswipe stood to his full height and waved as Bumblebee shut the door and began to drive out of the base and into the night.

"I think I know what Sam meant." Ironhide's voice sounded in the darkness. As Bumblebee's form disappeared. "Even though this holiday has many strange customs, its just about your friends." There was a soft pause as his thoughts drifted. "And your family."

Sideswipe lightly laid a hand on Ironhide's metal shoulder. "Your starting to get it, big guy."

…...

Bumblebee turned down the main road which lead into Tranquillity. The yellow mech trained his sensors inwards, mentally smiling at his charge who had already begun to drift to sleep.

"Sam." Bumblebee whispered quietly, just over the classical music that had started to play over his speakers.

"Hmmm." Sam mumbled, barely acknowledging Bumblebee's voice.

"Thank you Sam, thank you for the most wonderful year I have experienced in many millennia's."

Sam half opened one eye, and smiled, lightly touching the dash with one hand. "Your welcome Bee." he said softly before once more falling silent.

Bumblebee hummed happily, tipping Sam's seat back so he was in a laying position, Bumblebee felt his spark pulse with happiness, this truly was a magical time of year. Musing thoughtfully, Bumblebee remembered a quote he had come across on the internet. Speaking it out loud, he had not understood it back then, but now that he spoke it, Bumblebee understood it now.

**"I am never alone at all, I thought I was never alone at all. And that of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is the time for the sprit of Christmas to touch the hearts of the whole wide world."**

As Bumblebee spoke, a bright blue star appeared in the sky above them. A seemingly silent guide to anyone who wanted to find the true spirit of Christmas.

For Bumblebee the star meant something else entirely. It was both beautiful yet bittersweet in many ways. His first real winter with Sam was coming to an end, but what a winter it had been...

_Last offical chapter wow. Been a long ride, but well worth it in the end. All that's left to do is the epilogue now._

_Sapphirebee x  
_


	13. Epilogue: Changes

**:thoughts:**

**__****:Comlink:**

_:Radiobroadcasts:_

**First Snow**

Epilogue: Changes

By Steph

New Year, perhaps the most significant event of the calendar, a time to mark when the earth had completed a circle of the sun, indicating the seasons of change were on their way. The snow was still here; over Christmas there had been a few more snow flurries, giving the inhabitants of Tranquillity a white Christmas, the first one in quite a few years. This gave the town's decorations a very wintry appearance, as snow clung to the branches of the Christmas trees. Some even hanging on the town square's lights. All the excitement of the holidays had died down, and the streets were deserted as people favoured the warmth of the roaring fires inside, safe from the bitter cold.

That was to say most people did.

Overlooking the city, under the familiar oak tree, a yellow figure sat upright against the rough bark, his metal armour shining in the low light of the sun. Blue optics glowed brightly, gazing at the white city below. Upon the mech's lap, a much smaller form was reclining against his yellow metal.

"Sure looks different this time of year." Sam sighed, happily huddling closer to Bumblebee's armour.

The yellow scout hummed happily. Rearranging the blanked that was wrapped around Sam's shoulders, before laying a hand upon the soft fabric.

"It does." He agreed. "It is far quieter then usual, normally I can hear the traffic from here, but today not a sound. It is very peaceful."

Sam made a small nose, nodding. "Thanks for putting up with my mum, Bee. I know she can be a little fussy."

Bumblebee laughed, Sam opened his eyes smiling as he felt himself being bobbed up and down from his spot on Bumblebee's chest. "I appreciate her concern and her acceptance; I am honoured to be even considered a member of the family. Though, if she was autobot size I think she would be capable of scaring even Ironhide."

Sam laughed remembering his mother's attempts of forcing Bumblebee into the garage.

After returning home on Christmas Eve, Judy Witwicky, after fussing over her son making sure he was comfortable, had gone outside and just short of physically forcing Bumblebee, and had ordered the yellow mech into the family's garage. Immediately turning on the heating full blast, stating she was not having a member of her family being left out in the cold at Christmas. Sam who had watched the entire display from the window was left laughing at Bumblebee's attempts of protest, watching as Bumblebee had conceded, heading into the open door out of sight with a determined Judy following.

"My mum can be quite the dictator when she wants to be."

Bumblebee chuckled, idly turning his attention to the scene in front of the pair. Sam smiled, letting his own eyes wonder. In front of the oak tree, the ground was actually quite free of snow, the giant tree having both survived the snowstorm and sheltered the floor from most of the snowfall. Trailing his eyes along the bear ground, something usual caught Sam's attention, small green shoots… At this time of year?

Curious, Sam pulled himself free of the fluffy blanket, standing up on Bumblebee's lap, Sam began to slide down the side of Bumblebee's massive leg. Sam's movements caught the attention of Bumblebee who glanced down at his charge puzzled, giving a soft questioning chirp.

Sam smiled, looking over his shoulder. "I think I've just seen something, I'm going to go check it out. Don't worry I'll be right back."

Bumblebee watched curiously as Sam made his way over to whatever it was he had seen, several feet in front of where Bumblebee was currently sat.

Sam edged closer and to his utter shock; three small white flowers were protruding from behind the stalks of the grass.

Bumblebee, who had stood, carefully paced over to where Sam was looking. Lowering himself slowly to a crouch, his optics scanned the white flower, cross referencing the image online.

"What is it?" Sam asked, reaching out and touching one of the white petals with his finger. Bumblebee glanced at Sam, having completed his search.

"The flowers scientific name is _Galanthus."_

Removing his hand from the flower, Sam threw a ludicrous look at his guardian.

"Or as it is more commonly known as, the snowdrop." Bumblebee clarified.

"Snowdrop?"

Bumblebee nodded, pointing his hand at the ground. Watching, Sam followed Bumblebee's palm, glancing down at the soil, at first he couldn't see anything, but as he looked closer he spotted more green shoots. "There are more of them? I don't understand, it's still winter, yet there are flowers growing under this tree. What gives?"

"Yes." Bumblebee replied. "Snowdrops usually bloom at this time of year, they are commonly regarded as the first sign that spring is on its way."

Sam regarded the white flower for a moment. It meant winter was almost over, which of course meant the return of spring.

"Wow, I can't believe that spring is nearly here already, feels like just two minutes ago we were playing around in the snow."

Bumblebee hummed in agreement, gently wrapping his hand around Sam's body, lifting him off the ground. Sam gripped Bumblebee's thumb for balance as he was deposited on the mech's shoulder, Sam shifted dangling his feet over Bumblebee's chest getting comfortable, feeling as the mech's amour adjust to fit his body.

Bumblebee turned his head, lightly cupping Sam's back. "True, winter is nearly over, but we have the spring and the rest of the seasons to look forward to."

Sam laughed, "Your right, I bet this year, it's going to get interesting."

Bumblebee clicked in agreement turning his head to gaze at Sam on his shoulder. "Winter will be here once more, sooner then you might think, but for now, let us look forward to the changes ahead."

Sam nodded, smiling he gazed out at the bright orange lit sky. Bumblebee turned his optics to join his charge just as the sunlight seemed to glow a little brighter. Signaling this side of the world that spring truly was on its way…

_**The End**_

_Well this is it for First Snow. Thank you all once again for taking the time to read and review. I have enjoyed every minute of writing this. Have a great spring! _

_Special thank you to: **Waterbender oathkeeper, **my beta.** Lina03, salvador242, MoniHoag, Linda Saphira Witwicky, 1Timberwolf, Chibimax, Second daughter of Eve, Bookworm310, ** **FoghornLeghorn83, CosmicEssence, **__** and**** Astrianna**. For regularly reviewing my chapters throughout this story, you've all been great, so thanks. Thank you to those of you who are'nt listed here also, it would take a while to list you all, but all of you have made my writing possible. _

_A sequel to First Snow is due to be writern, thanks for taking part in the poll! Till next time, keep reading, reviewing and enjoying the world of Transformers!  
_

_Sapphirebee x  
_


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